I remember back in thehighschool days when the girls that were confident, pretty and strutted their stuff were labelled as being in love with themselves.
We used terms such as “up themselves” or “into themselves”. I’m certain any of these comments came from a place of jealousy or insecurity. It was unacceptable to love ourselves.
But nowadays, as adult women, we still can’t tell ourselves and accept that we love ourselves in the fear of being conceited. We don’t accept compliments because we feel like that would make us seem arrogant. We can’t even compliment our beautiful selves in the mirror. And where do you think that has come from?!
We have never been taught how or why to love ourselves or to accept that is necessary. So we have purely conceptualised what we believe to be self-love from our surrounding environment of influences such as media, magazines, family, and peers.
Self love is needed in every life. Yours! Mine! Theirs!
So why don’t we simply love ourselves?
Well you gorgeous Goddesses, I am here to tell you something. I love myself! Wholey and souly.
WHY? Because if I don’t, I won’t take care of myself. I lack my self love injection of finding the tools and habits to create love for myself and my body, mind and spirit every single day.
Being in love with yourself is not about strutting your thang down the main strip to let everyone know you are awesome.
Self Love is humble because it only matters to YOU!
Once you begin to love yourself and make the necessary changes to reflect that, that love then overflows to all around you. Literally EVERYTHING!
But how do you begin to love yourself without getting caught up in thinking you are being a conceited princess?
Loving yourself means you take care of YOU.
Think about someone you love right now. You take care of them. You make sure they know you love them. You show them everyday in one way or another that they matter to you.
Now you need to do that for YOU my Goddess.
There are 4 elements you need to inject into your life to love yourself wholey and souly without thinking you’re being conceited.
- Nourish your body with real food. This is what she wants. To feel love!! Start your loving relationship with real food NOW and get away from diets and shakes. Stop trying to force her into losing body fat or changing by hating her into it. LOVE. Put love into your foods, make it interesting and tasty. Choose the real, amazing choices that Mother Nature has given you. YUM!!!
- Move your body with love. The movement you choose to do must come from a place of love. Do things you enjoy and avoid punishing your body with excessive exercise or trying to burn off binges you’ve had or are about to have. Simply move: hike, jump, climb, walk, run, lift, ride, stretch, dance….the options are endless. Move for how it feels. Not to try and create an aesthetic change.
- Use loving words. To show your bestfriend you love her/him, you tell them how amazing they are don’t you?! Do the same for yourself gorgeous. Words matter. You hear everything you say to yourself and your behaviours align with that. So make your words words of love. make sure these are every day, even when they feel uncomfortable. You WILL start to believe them. Fake it until you make it.
- Stress less. You need time out. Operating at a high level of chronic stress all the time isn’t good for your body, mind or spirit. Or for anyone around you either. To operate at your Stellar self you need to have de-activation time. Read, meditate, walk, do yoga, journal, take yourself on a date, catch up with a spirit sister. Something for YOU each and every day. Make 15 minutes non-negotiable and FEEL the difference.
Mindfully implemeting these elements daily has created my self-love. Now I accept compliments with grace and compliment myself too. Because that is what your Inner Warrior Goddess wants. LOVE
Show yourself some SELF LOVE you gorgeous babe. It’s not conceited, it’s essential.
Love + Empowerment,
Ingrid Lecke
Originally published at medium.com