What better time of year than the festive period to affirm our love. For many, Christmas is filled with love, joy, mulled wine, and mince pies. When we mention the word love though, we think of our loved ones, our families, children, friends, pets…whatever it is in our lives that we love. The love I want to touch on though, is the most important love of all, the one you wouldn’t think of first and foremost. This kind of love is one we cannot and should not be living without; we are all worthy of this love.

Self-Love

As humans, we all experience love in our lives, whether it is a partner, a parent, our children, a friend, our pets. It is undeniably the best feeling in the world. So why do we shy away from loving ourselves just as much as we love others? Loving yourself comes from knowing your self-worth.

Self-worth is the opinion we have about ourselves and the value we place on ourselves. To me, this is such an important tool in loving yourself, and without it, it just would not be sustainable. Knowing your self-worth comes from our self-beliefs. The belief that you are a good person who deserves good things and wholeheartedly believes you are worthy of love.

If we cannot love ourselves, how can we expect others to love us? You, yes, you, yourself, more than anybody in the entire universe, deserves your love and affection.

Affirmations might not be for everyone, and they can take some getting used to, but they are a great way to affirm those beliefs and set you on that road to self-acceptance. They do not need to be read out loud, but if you say positive things to yourself about yourself, it is guaranteed to make you feel better (the research is there to back it up!). Remember to keep your thoughts positive too. It all begins and ends in our own mind. What we give
power to has power over us if we allow it. Self-confidence, self-love, self-belief is a superpower; once we start to believe in ourselves, magic will start happening.

Now seems a great time to start, with six simple things that we would not hesitate to tell others if they needed to hear it.

1. I deserve good things
2. I am worthy of love
3. I accept myself unconditionally
4. I acknowledge my own self-worth
5. I release negative self-talk
6. I am enough

So this Christmas, instead of just spreading the love to others, keep some of it for yourself. Loving yourself is not about vanity, it is so important for our sanity. Make yourself a priority. Loving yourself is not selfish, it is self-fulfilling and beautiful.