Valentine’s Day is coming up, and I thought that now would be a good time to do a post on love, but what kind of love?  Self-love.  Loving yourself is kind of a trend, a movement where people are starting to embrace themselves for the way they are, and it is beautiful.  For such a long time, we have been told to look a certain way, act a certain way, and to be a certain way, but finally, thanks to social media and some very influential people, things are changing.  Learning to love yourself and embracing the way you are is a new and beautiful thing!  There will always be people who tell you differently, but let me be one of the voices to combat that.  I want to let you know that you are perfect just the way that you are.  I do realize that it can be very difficult to get to that point of self-love when you have been told otherwise for your entire life.  I am writing from experience with this.  Here are some things I have been doing, and that you can do to increase your self-love.  

Positive Affirmations

Have you heard of these?  Positive affirmations are ways to positively speak in order to combat negative thoughts.  I have had a really easy time with negative thoughts about myself, so changing the way I think about myself and the things that I say to myself has really helped me.  Instead of saying “I haven’t lost the baby weight,”  I say “My body is amazing.  I was able to grow and give birth to 3 babies because of it.”  I will admit, this is something I am still practicing.  I am starting to notice more when I speak negatively about myself or my situation.  When I notice this, I stop, and I turn the statement into a positive one.  This is helping me a lot.  I feel better equipped to handle the day.  I am more confident in myself and my abilities in all of the roles and responsibilities that I have.  

Routine

Now, I know that this is not always possible, especially if you have little children or babies in your home.  I have found that having a flexible routine in the morning and at night before bedtime has helped me so much.  I feel more prepared for the day when I am able to get in the routine I have set up for myself in the morning, and I go to bed easier and sleep deeper when I do my nighttime routine.  I don’t have an elaborate routine where I need to spend 2 hours in the morning and another 2 hours at night, but I do have short routines where I can add more things that day if I have time.  My morning routine is just for me to get ready for the day.  That can look very different depending on what I have going on that day, if my kids slept through the night, and if I was able to wake up before my kids.  It’s frustrating some days, but having a simple routine in place has really worked for me on those days I need to be flexible.  The same thing goes for my nighttime routine.

Clothing

Hear me out.  I feel much more confident and comfortable in my skin when I am wearing clothes that fit me properly, and I like.  For a long time, I waited to get back into my “pre-pregnancy” size.  I stored my clothes for over 2 years, hoping that I would be able to wear them soon.  In the 2 years that I was storing them, I wore clothing that was too tight and uncomfortable, or sweatpants. Nothing fit me, but I refused to buy clothes in the size I was because I didn’t want to be that size.  Plus, I was supposed to lose the baby weight according to all the .  I was depressed, lacked confidence, and was overwhelmed when I needed to get dressed in the morning because I was not comfortable in any of my clothes.  Well, I ended up giving in, and buying clothes that fit me.  You know what, I am much happier in them.  I don’t have to worry about being uncomfortable in my clothing, and it is great.

I have lots of other self-love tips, but these are the three I wanted to focus on for this post.  I hope that this will help you in your journey of loving yourself.