What Does Love Yourself Mean?

That brings us to the most burning question related to self-love: ‘What does it mean to love yourself?’

Self-love is a relatively new concept, so most people aren’t sure exactly what it is.

This self-love blog is written to answer the long-standing question, ‘What does love yourself mean?’.

Before we dive into the all-important concept of self-love, it’s essential to understand its background in simple terms.

Right from childhood, we are taught to love everything around us.

We are told to love our parents, teachers, friends, and even strangers.

And that’s the right thing to do!

The ability to love makes us a human being in an absolute sense.

But what does self-love look like?

Why is self-love important?

Let’s draw an analogy here.

 Imagine a captain commanding a ship. He is expected to take care of all the other “passengers” onboard. But while overseeing the passengers’ comfort, he completely overlooks his own well-being. He forgets that he, too, is a traveler and needs to take care of himself.

But don’t you think the captain is the most important person on the ship?

He is the one on whom the success of the whole voyage depends, and therefore, it is essential that he looks after himself.

Similarly, you are the captain of your soul, navigating the journey of life. You are worthy of love and appreciation as much as your co-travelers, i.e., partners, friends, or family. And who better than you to give yourself this special treatment?

Self-love means valuing, appreciating, and accepting oneself completely.

Everyone needs a unique, customized, and essential dose of self-love to lead a happy life.

Now that the answer to the question ‘What does love yourself mean?’ has become much clearer, let’s delve into some related questions.

Can I Love Myself?

Finding the answer to ‘What does love yourself mean?’ was relatively simple.

But here are some much more intense questions.

How can someone be in love with themselves?

Is it even possible to love yourself?

Well, it’s not only possible; it’s a necessary virtue to lead a fulfilled life.

If you aren’t filled with love for yourself, how do you expect to give love to others whom you care about?

Thus, you need to love yourself first. Only when you overflow with self-love can you naturally and genuinely love others.

 So now we know that it’s certainly possible to love yourself.

When we know that loving ourselves is possible, the question arises: ‘How can I love myself?’

How Do You Love Yourself?

I am sure you have loved someone more than anything in your life.

What were your feelings when you first saw them?

Now, try to recall all the nice things you have done for them.

Remember how you were ready to go to any extent to make them a part of your life.

And what all things you did to make them smile and keep them happy.

Have you ever consciously done those big and cute little things for yourself? 

Maybe you were full of love at the time you first met them.

But over time, in every relationship, the love starts to dip. And then you start feeling disappointed with the person you love.

You feel that even after giving them everything you had, they haven’t lived up to your expectations. 

Why does it happen?

It happens because, in a relationship, we tend to ignore ourselves. Our entire focus is on making our loved ones feel happy and valued.  In the process, we stop loving and appreciating ourselves.

If you could give yourself the same special treatment that you give your loved one, you wouldn’t be disappointed with the other person. 

Having said that, it takes a lot more effort to fill yourself with love than what it takes to love others.

Maybe that’s the reason why it’s more challenging to love yourself.

To be happy with where you are in life, you need to recharge yourself with love.

Now, let’s come to the real business here.

What are all the things you can do to boost your tank of self-love? 

Things To Do To Love Yourself

Here are two simple things you can do for self-love.

Doing them will take you closer to the answer to the question, ‘What does love yourself mean.’

Protect Your Self-Love

Knowing the answer to ‘What does love yourself mean?’ isn’t enough.

You must constantly protect it from getting damaged or reduced by various sources.

The first thing we need to do in favor of our self-love is to protect it from reducing or keeping it intact.

When it stops taking a hit, we can then start raising it.

So, the first thing to keep the love stable is to always keep yourself calm.

When you are worried, frustrated, or angry, you may feel that you are having your way, but your self-love suffers the most.

In a separate article, we will examine the different ways to keep yourself peaceful at all times in detail.

The same is true for the upcoming points I will tell you.

Right now, we are taking baby steps towards inculcating the habit of loving ourselves by knowing what needs to be done.

The second thing is not to entertain any thought or indulge in any activity that reduces your self-love.

This may include things expected by others of you. 

Remember, your self-love isn’t other people’s job; it’s solely your concern.

Thus, you need to take total responsibility for it on your shoulders.

The third thing is not to give in to the temptation to do things that are harmful to self-love.

For example, you should never compare yourself to anyone.

It’s easy to give in to the temptation to draw comparisons when you are good at something. 

But remember, comparing yourself to others goes against the fact that you are unique.

When you compare yourself, you are bound to get upset when you realize that you are not better than many people at doing certain things.

If you compare yourself often, you probably still haven’t understood ‘what loving yourself means.’

Thus, choose to remain unique and don’t compare yourself with others.

Enhance Your Self-Love

When you truly understand the answer to ‘What does love yourself mean?’ you will also know that self-love needs to be enhanced consistently.

And when you have learned to keep your self-love stable, increasing it will not be difficult anymore.

Your self-love would start increasing naturally upon finding its footing. 

But there are certain activities that you can do to fast-track the process, too. 

First, you can do activities that increase your inner peace.

This may include general things like sitting around nature.

You can also customize your activities based on your interests, such as meditation, listening to music, etc.

If talking to someone makes you calmer, you can do that too. 

Secondly, you can do things that make you happy, like pursuing a hobby.

You can go trekking, play a sport, or play with your puppy.

You can watch a movie, eat what you like, or go to the gym and work out.

The idea is to make yourself happy and show that you love yourself. 

The third thing that adds the biggest meaning to self-love is to go after the things in life that matter to you. 

It doesn’t matter whether you achieve them or not.

Merely following your passion would be the most significant boost to your self-love and show that you care about your happiness. 

If you are still a little unclear about what “love yourself” means, in the simplest terms, it means that you should do what you want to do in life.

And doing what you want to do in life adds to your self-love quotient.

What Does Love Yourself Mean: Conclusion

I hope you now have a firm grasp of not only what self-love means but also how it depends solely upon you and what you can do to kickstart the process.

Decoding ‘what does love yourself mean’ must now be a simple task for you.

Sometimes, just one change or resolution can do wonders for every other aspect of life.

Doing just that one thing can give you the answer to ‘What does love yourself mean.’

Self-love is one such change you need to bring into your life as it sits at the core or center of it.

It is connected to everything related to you and everything flows out of it or its absence.

Thus, learning to love yourself is essential for your overall well-being.

This is why we explored the depths of the question, ‘What does love yourself mean?’

I am glad that we are embarking on this journey of self-love together. I hope to see you in the subsequent blogs on self-love.