Be Yourself, Love Yourself

Calling out to all FONZIES out there!!! I have a serious question for all of you. Do you love your crush more than yourself? If yes, then you are certainly not living your life correctly!!! Haizzzz…..

Every one of us here lives an extraordinary life. We were gifted with a body and intelligence to survive and enjoy this world that is full of mysteries. However, we were so obsessed with chasing our dreams that we tend to forget to slow down and appreciate ourselves for all the hard work we have done previously. We only know how to show love and care to others but tend to neglect ourselves. This is not the right way to live! And so, I would like to share with you some ways we can love ourselves.

1. Forgive Yourself

Have you ever made a mistake and just regretted your life decision, which causes you to not be able to move on in life? Learning how to let it go and forgive your past self is a great way to show self-love. Who has never made any mistakes before? I’m certain that even the most intelligent individual in our world has done it countless times. But it was the mistakes and forgiveness that made one successful in life because we learn from our mistakes.

2. Set the Right Boundaries

Are you a person that likes to jump on the bandwagon? You did not follow your heart, instead, you choose to follow the crowd. Numerous people out there tend to seek advantage from you and hurt you, but you did not defend yourself… Instead, you smiled and acted as if nothing had happened. STOP!!! STOP!!! STOP!!! Defend yourself, protect yourself and start setting boundaries with people that intend to hurt you mentally. These fake friends are unnecessary for us, and we should stay away from them!

3. Show Up for Yourself

There are times we cannot finish what we planned to do on time. Are you always this tough on yourself? Relax and just chill! We shouldn’t be looking at our fault, instead, let’s appreciate ourselves for the things that we have accomplished. Don’t push yourself too hard. Sometimes we need to acknowledge the fact that there are limits to our workload and work quality. As long as we have done our best, that’s what we should be happy about because we are already one step closer to our goal.

4. Be Grateful

The majority of society focuses more on the past and future. What about the present? If we keep on wasting time regretting our past actions, it will just continually drain our energy and we will be immersed in a negative world. Nothing can be changed from the past because whatever is done is done. Even for the future, whatever we are doing now determines how successful our future holds. So why think about our future when we can focus on the current and try our best to live the most out of our lives? Learning how to be grateful for what we already have, and what we have accomplished, could improve our mental health and drive us to work harder in future to achieve our goals.

5. Needs-based Decisions

On top of that, we should learn how to control our impulses. This is due to most people being controlled by rash emotional thinking. They make their decisions on the spot and when they look back, all they ever feel is regret and frustration. But what does your decision-making have to do with self-love? Often we struggle to love ourselves because our identities are clouded by WANTS, WISHES and UNCONTROLLABLE IMPULSES. Sometimes, you may feel like you don’t know who you are because your decisions aren’t yours. Hence, to practice self-love, prioritize your needs over your wants.

To conclude, we should love ourselves before loving anyone else. Self-love is not a linear process. Even for a person that consciously practices self-love, sometimes one might still feel grumpy, sad, lonely, tired, anxious or defeated. But that’s more than okay. Because what makes us special as humans are the varieties of emotions we hold. Life is hard, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking the bad, with the good. Part of loving yourself is expressing all these emotions without criticizing yourself. So, do remember to accept who you are. Be Yourself, Love Yourself

Written by,

Xiao You

The Fonz