Your Self-Love Journey: How to Start Loving Yourself

In today’s world, there’s a lot of talk about self-love. “You’ve got to put yourself first!”, “#SelfcareSunday” and “self-love is the best love!” - these are just a few of the sayings we see daily. However, how does one start their self-love journey?

It’s easy to tell someone to love themselves, but it’s difficult to tell them just how to start this practice. From affirmations for self love to self love journal prompts and everything in between, we’ll be shedding some light on how to begin your journey. 

Now, prioritizing your relationship with yourself may seem overwhelming to you. You’ve already got to do your 9-5, see your friends, drink enough water, somehow squeeze in some exercise, and now you’ve got to add this to your list? We hear you. But, even just drinking that extra glass of water or going for that walk, you’re making a great start. 

Loving yourself opens you up to feeling a host of other emotions and puts you in a better position to love those around you fully. Don’t worry; this isn’t a post about self-love quotes for Instagram. We’ll be sharing real steps on how to start loving yourself below. 

What Exactly is Self Love?

According to Oxford Languages, self love is the regard for one's well-being and happiness. It encompasses how you treat yourself and your thoughts and feelings about yourself. Practicing self-love means fully accepting yourself, nurturing your growth and well-being, and treating yourself with respect and kindness. 

All those imposter syndrome thoughts you have? Throw them out of the window! It’s time to start treating yourself the way you deserve.

Why is Self Love Important? 

How we perceive ourselves is the foundation of who we are. It helps us create healthy relationships with others, set boundaries, pursue interests and goals, and feel proud of ourselves in moments of achievement. 

Most importantly, loving yourself allows you to set standards for yourself. If someone ghosts you, do you have to put up with that? Of course not! You’re fabulous, and you know you deserve someone who sees that. As the saying goes, “If you can’t love yourself, how can anyone else love you?” 

And that, our friends, is precisely why self-love is important. 

How to Start your Self Love Journey

Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s jump into some practical tips! 

#1: Be Willing to Feel & Take Responsibility for Your Feelings

When you start your self love journey, you’re probably going to have a lot of feelings, including pain and disappointment. When this happens, allow yourself to feel whatever you’re feeling, and take responsibility for those feelings. They are totally normal! The key is to move towards your emotions and not run away from them. 

As we said, this isn’t just about self-love quotes for Instagram. When you work on yourself, you’re in for some hard work, and sometimes you’ve got to face some harsh truths. On the plus side, you will feel lighter and more enlightened as a result.

#2: Be Open to Learning

You decided to embark on this journey for a reason. Remind yourself of that reason when things get tough, and don’t be afraid to learn about yourself and your feelings. This includes the emotions that cause you pain because once you know more about these feelings, you can move towards taking loving action. 

This is exactly why we love self-love affirmations. It’s incredibly easy to give up on this process, but with the right affirmations for self-love, you can encourage yourself to keep on learning. 

#3: Start Journaling

Perhaps the simplest and cheapest form of therapy, journaling, can give you the reminders and feedback you need when times are tough. Set up your self love journal prompts to remind yourself to get writing. Experts suggest spending 20 minutes a day journaling, and you can write about anything. 

Your self love journal can be reminders on your phone, sticky notes on your bathroom mirror, or a reminder on the fridge door - whatever works best for you! 

#4: Change your Inner Dialogue

Often, people with low self-esteem talk to themselves in a negative, self-sabotaging way which impacts their future self-esteem. By changing your inner dialogue to one of self love, you’ll change these pathways in your brain and realize a more authentic version of yourself. We find self love songs are also great for a bit of motivation when needed! 

Our favorite self love songs for when we are in need of a pep talk are Love Myself (Hailee Steinfeld), Good As Hell (Lizzo), and I Love Me (Meghan Trainor). 

So pour yourself a glass of wine (this glass makes for the perfect company), blast that music, and dance around your room! It’s just what you need. 

#5: Set Healthy Emotional Boundaries

Setting these boundaries begins with you. If you are someone who often cares about other people’s feelings more than your own, this step will be life-changing! By understanding your own needs and desires and communicating them, you’ll be able to set limits and rules for your relationships with others. 

If you start feeling guilty here, we suggest practicing some self love affirmations. These are small, daily reminders to believe in what you are doing and put yourself first. Repeating your favorite self love affirmations will help you push those negative thoughts aside and focus on your self love journey. 

With these five steps in place, you’re on your way to starting your self love journey and changing your life for the better! You won’t have to only rely on those self love quotes for Instagram to provide you with a daily pick-me-up. You’ve got something better - a changing mindset! 

Speaking of self love quotes for Instagram, sharing your journey is a great way to encourage your friends and family to focus on their self love journeys. After all, the more we fill the world with love, a better place to live in it will be!