Here are five ways to love yourself better.
1. Stop Rushing Toward the Next Thing
There’s no rush. Just decide that there’s no rush. We really need to take care of our nervous system, and learning how to slow down is a huge part of that. No one is timing you on how fast you can brush your teeth. Give yourself the gift of being in the present moment and treating it like you have nowhere else to be. Be exactly where your feet are, and relax.
2. Sit in Discomfort Rather Than Running from It
Honor your emotions. Let them show you what is going on in your body. Respect them by feeling them and not pushing them away. If you need to cry, cry. If you need to scream, scream. Your emotions are not something to run from—they’re something to run toward. Once you get through them, they give you a clearer path forward. But if you push them away and suppress them into your body, they will eventually come up anyway—and it’s much easier to process them one by one than to deal with a flood of emotions later.
3. Walk Away from People Who Make You Feel Smaller
Walk away from people who make you feel like a smaller, more constricted version of yourself. We do not need anything in our lives that makes us feel tighter, stuck, or constricted. Trust that your decision to walk away will open new doors for relationships that make you feel both rooted and free. That is possible. It really is.
4. Take Your Time Making Decisions
We’re not in a rush. Take your time making decisions. Don’t say yes to something just because you’ve always said yes and people expect you to. Say, “Let me think about that. I’ll get back to you. I’ll check my calendar and let you know.” Then go home, do some nervous system regulation, and decide: is this something that’s going to make me feel expansive, or is it going to make me feel tight? If it’s going to make you feel tight, let’s not do it.
5. Follow Your Curiosities
A really good way to love yourself is to allow yourself the freedom to play, explore, and be a beginner at something. Anytime you have a little nudge to do something or a little curiosity about something, follow it. Even if it scares you. Even if you feel awkward at first. Keep showing up, and it might become a huge part of your life with a community you never expected to find.
Let’s soften a little bit and love ourselves a little bit better.
