For the close of this month, Nurturing Self-Love is a timely topic to flip the script. So often we view Valentine’s Day as a day to look forward to – only if we’re in a relationship with someone else. However every day is an opportunity to practice self-love and pursue a relationship with ourselves.

Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through affiliate links (marked with asterisks) in this post – at no extra cost to you. Please see the website’s Disclaimer page for more information.

What Is Self-Love?

Do you have a relationship with yourself? If yes, is it a loving relationship? In other words, do you treat yourself with love and respect? To be clear, I am talking above self-love from a healthy perspective. Self-love as I mean it is defined as “an appreciation of one’s own worth or virtue” or “proper regard for and attention to one’s own happiness or well-being”. Unfortunately we don’t have many models for what healthy self-love looks like. Getting to this place was truly a journey for me – still ongoing. I love this *Self love Journey T-Shirt on Etsy. It definitely speaks to this topic.

Love Rekindled

Recently I wrote a poem entitled *Love Rekindled. The title is a little misleading (intentionally). 😉 The poem highlights the twists and turns of my journey back to self-love. I can sincerely say my path was not direct. I took the scenic route – with a few detours!

Key Component of Relationships

In my humble opinion, nurturing self-love is a key component of having a successful relationship with anyone else. We often feel like self-care is selfish. However we cannot care for anyone else, if we don’t first care for ourselves. Further, when you treat yourself with love and respect, you set the bar for anyone else.

Be(you)tiful

“Be(you)tiful” was the text inside the wrapper of a piece of Dove Dark Chocolate candy I enjoyed not long ago. I thought it was a perfect reminder for this topic because “being you” IS beautiful! Being authentic is the core of nurturing self-love. We love, acknowledge and honor all aspects of ourselves. Including our edges and rough spots.

Self-Love & Mental Health

Nurturing self-love may be helpful for your Mental Health. We’ve discussed Mental Health in multiple blog posts – most recently in Healing Moves. We can never have too much information on ways to benefit our mental health. 😉

Enjoying Your Own Company

Do you enjoy your own company? Have you ever taken yourself out for coffee? Dinner? Can’t go out? Bring it in! Prepare yourself a very nice dinner as if you were cooking for a special guest. You are. The guest of honor is you! What about a weekend getaway with yourself? What about an entire vacation with just you? Give some of this a try. Start small and work your way up. I once enjoyed a vacation on my own and a family member asked me “How can you possibly have fun on a vacation by yourself?” I replied “You really need to go on vacation by yourself!”

Getting Started

Are you new to nurturing self-love and need additional ideas for getting started? How about indulging in a *Self Love Ritual Bath Kit? Not into baths? What about a *Self Love Crystal Kit? Crystals don’t move you? Maybe a great way to begin is to explore this *Beginner’s Self-Love Bundle to get (and keep) you on track. Getting started mainly begins with making a commitment to nurture self-love and pursue a relationship with yourself!

Self-Love Groups/Events

Search online and see if there are any in-person or virtual Self-Love groups or events coming up. I did a quick search and there are a wide range of self-love events available. I really like the title and description of this online event: The Most Important Love: Self-Love. Please note, this is just an example of an online self-love event. I know nothing about this event, but I am now Following the event to learn more. 🙂 Likewise, find (or start) something that appeals to you. Here’s an interesting in-person, self-love event: Trying on Your Perfect Dress. Although it’s currently Sold Out, take a look at the event description. Love it!

Conclusion

So that’s it. Our collective mission is to begin (or continue) nurturing self-love in our lives. In so doing, we become a model or blueprint for others. Let me know in the Comments if you have any special self-love activities to share.