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 answers the long-standing question. 

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. Society teaches us 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. Everyone expects him to take care of all the other “passengers” onboard. But while overseeing the passengers’ comfort, he completely overlooks his 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, he must look after himself.

Similarly, you are the captain of your soul, navigating life’s journey. 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 self-love has become clear, let’s explore some related questions.

Can I Love Myself?

Finding what ‘Loving yourself’ meant 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 brimming with self-love, 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. The next natural 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 think they haven’t met your expectations even after giving them everything you had. 

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 ever be disappointed with the other person. 

Having said that, it takes a lot more effort to love yourself than to love others. Maybe that’s 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 to gain self-love as a beginner. Doing these things will strengthen the presence of self-love in your life.

Protect Your Self-Love

Once you have developed self-love, you must constantly protect it from getting damaged or reduced by various sources.

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

So, the first thing to stabilize your love for yourself is to always keep yourself calm. When you are worried, frustrated, or angry, you may feel you are having your way, but your self-love suffers the most.

In a separate article, we will examine in detail the different ways to stay peaceful at all times. Right now, we are taking baby steps towards inculcating the habit of loving ourselves by knowing what we need to do.

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

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

Enhance Your Self-Love

Another thing that you should realize is self-love needs to be enhanced consistently.

The good news is that increasing your self-love will not be difficult if you have learned to keep it stable. Your self-love will 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. It may include general things like sitting around nature.

You can also customize your activities based on your interests, such as meditation or listening to music. 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 work out at the gym. The idea is to make yourself happy and show that you love and care for 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. Doing what you want to do continuously increases your self-love quotient, making life beautiful.

What Does Love Yourself Mean: Conclusion

I hope you understand what self-love means, how it depends solely upon you, and what you can do to kickstart the process.

Sometimes, just one change or resolution can do wonders for every other aspect of life. Doing just that one thing can help you transform your life completely. Self-love is one such change you need to bring into your life, as the former sits at the latter’s core. Self-love concerns everything related to you; everything good flows out of it.

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

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.