You’ve probably heard that knowing how to love yourself and be confident is the most critical decision in your life.
“I love you” is possibly one of the most widely used words in human interaction. But, how often do you say “I love you” to yourself?
It’s important to realize that how you love yourself serves as the foundation for loving others and for others to love you back.
So, how can you begin on the path towards self-love? While it may come naturally to some, others might find it challenging. One powerful way to kickstart this journey is by understanding your unique strengths. The HIGH5 strengths test can be an invaluable tool in this process, helping you identify and appreciate your innate talents. By recognizing what makes you uniquely capable, you lay a solid foundation for self-love and confidence.
It’s impossible to predict where you’ll end up in life because you’re the result of your unique life experiences. It may appear difficult, but don’t worry!
If you want to start loving yourself and improving your confidence, you’ll have to put in the required effort.
We will share 15 practical self-love routines that you can immediately implement. You will also learn tips on how to keep loving yourself and be confident in a relationship or after a breakup.
Why is it Important To Love Yourself And Be Confident
We all are hardwired to seek love since young, and we continue to do so throughout our lives. When you love yourself, you have control of your life.
When you prioritize loving yourself, you open your life to receive the love you desire. If you don’t love yourself, you may think you’re undeserving of other people’s love.
To receive the love you want and form healthy relationships with others, you must first learn to love yourself.
When you truly love yourself, you cultivate an embracing and accepting mentality. This self-acceptance is greatly enhanced by understanding your unique strengths. The HIGH5 strengths test can reveal your top five talents, providing a clear picture of what makes you exceptional. Armed with this knowledge, you’re more inclined to openly accept life’s challenges and hold yourself accountable for your actions, knowing you have the specific strengths to overcome obstacles and thrive.
You also understand the essence of your love, happiness, and sincerity comes from accepting yourself as a whole.
Loving yourself makes you feel less anxious when confronted with adversity. You will not compete or compare yourself to them.
You begin to appreciate your misfortune and adopt a positive mindset in life. You are open to new ideas and more willing to try new things.
By loving yourself, you have increased self-esteem and feel confident about yourself and your capabilities.
High self-esteem shows that you perceive setbacks as a learning opportunity rather than devastating signs of failure. Your confidence will not be easily shaken when you know your worth.
Pro Tip From HIGH5
Leverage your strengths in daily life. After taking the HIGH5 test, choose one strength each week to consciously apply in various situations. This practice will boost your confidence and reinforce self-love as you see your natural talents in action.
15 Ways To Love Yourself & Be Confident
1. Adopt A Healthy Lifestyle
A healthy lifestyle can take many different forms. You should look for one that appeals to you.
For some, this may involve focusing on your physical health and begin exercising. Exercise is an excellent way to relieve stress and improve your mood.
Whatever healthy lifestyle you choose, make sure you get started right away. You will only begin to be confident and see the results of what you are capable of if you take consistent and dedicated actions.
2. Have An Optimistic Mindset
Cultivating a positive mindset can be challenging in a world often dominated by negativity. However, you can begin by making a conscious decision to focus on your unique strengths. The HIGH5 strengths test is an excellent starting point, revealing your top five talents. By understanding and appreciating these inherent strengths, you naturally shift towards a more optimistic outlook. This strengths-based approach allows you to see challenges as opportunities to apply your unique abilities, fostering positivity and resilience.
It might be as simple as listening to podcasts or watching YouTube videos about being optimistic. You can also identify and surround yourself with positive people.
Simultaneously, start getting rid of the negativity in your life since you don’t need it anymore!
Make it a point to look for things that will only encourage you to love yourself more right now.
3. Eat A Well-Balanced Diet
To train your brain to love yourself, you must first watch the kind of food you are consuming. Having a well-balanced diet is one of the most crucial steps to loving yourself and building confidence.
The food you consume significantly influences your mood and energy level.
Foods high in fat, salt, and sugar may have a detrimental long-term effect on your feelings. It may lead to obesity, depression, and other harmful effects on your health.
On the other hand, avoiding processed foods and consuming protein-rich foods, fruits, and vegetables can positively impact your brain and body.
4. Help Others
When you witness someone doing something kind, you can’t help but praise or admire the person. The good news is that you, too, can feel this way about yourself!
All you need to do is to offer your hand to help someone. You can try finding a local shelter or non-profit organization for volunteer opportunities that fit your interest.
Alternatively, helping others can be as simple as doing a favor for your friend. Or it can also be taking the initiative to help someone when you notice they are in need.
5. Learn Something New
Learning something new is a powerful way to boost self-love and confidence. But instead of randomly choosing a new skill, why not align your learning with your innate strengths? The HIGH5 strengths test can reveal your top five talents, providing a roadmap for personal development. For instance, if ‘Strategist’ is one of your strengths, you might focus on learning advanced problem-solving techniques. By choosing learning opportunities that complement your natural abilities, you’re more likely to succeed and feel fulfilled, further enhancing your self-love and confidence.
As your experiences and skills expand, you will feel more confident in yourself. As a result, you will love yourself more and perceive yourself as competent.
6. Pay Attention To Your Body Language
At a certain period of our lives, we may dislike or despise the way we look. And because of that, we become less confident about ourselves and may convey bad body language to others.
However, you can start feeling better about yourself by making minor adjustments.
Standing tall with squared shoulders while holding your chin high can make you feel confident.
Make it a habit to smile often to others and yourself. Every time you see a mirror, smile to yourself. It might shift the way you see yourself, making it easier for you to love yourself.
7. Give And Accept Compliments
Make it a point to compliment someone every day. You may think that it’s difficult, but it’s not! A key to this is by being interested in others.
When you are interested in others, you will find things that you like about that person.
The smile you get from the sincere compliments you give others will warm your heart and make you feel good.
While it’s okay to be humble when someone compliments you, try not to deflect or minimize it. A simple “Thank you!” to acknowledge the compliment will do.
After all, if others can notice something great about you, why can’t you acknowledge and believe in it?
8. Visualize Your Success
Close your eyes and visualize where you want to be in the next six months or a year.
Visualization allows you to imagine the feeling when you become the ideal person you want to be. It makes you more mindful of your everyday actions to love yourself more and brings you closer to your ideal self.
Make visualization your daily habit. And you will find yourself striving towards your ideal self without noticing it.
9. Embrace Failure And Setbacks
Failure is a great teacher, although it may be one of the most difficult things to accept. Setbacks are opportunities to acknowledge your weakness and recognize that you’re not perfect.
Learn from your failures so that you can be better than last time. When you fail, be patient, accept and take it as an opportunity for growth.
10. Become Your Own Best Friend
Treat yourself as your best friend. Start to envision your inner self as your closest friend. Take the lead to communicate with your wounded self.
Discover your innermost fear or issues and find ways to overcome them.
As your own best friend, you need to think or say only words that you will say to your best friend. Not words that can damage them, especially during setbacks or uncertainty.
Use words of affirmation, encouragement, support, and love when talking to yourself. Do not use words that will bring you down or risk hurting your confidence and trust.
11. Practice Gratitude
When you think negatively, redirect your focus to gratitude and appreciation. You can start a habit of listing three things that you are most grateful for daily.
Your gratitude list can be as simple as being thankful that you are alive.
Notice the good things in your life. Spend several minutes a day to reflect on and appreciate them. Savor and pay attention to those good things that happened to you.
Practicing gratitude regularly helps you feel more positive emotions and improve your outlook on life.
12. Assess Your Financial Situation
Money is one of the most significant causes of stress in today’s world. It’s difficult to love yourself when you’re always stressed. Therefore, you need to prioritize managing your finances.
If you do not have emergency funds, you can start allocating some money from your monthly salary. You will thank yourself when an unforeseen expenditure arises.
Next, consider how much money you spend each month. What do you spend your money on? Do you have any outstanding debts? If yes, create a plan to clear all of your debt first.
Try not to take out new loans or use your credit cards on non-essential items.
13. Practice Forgiveness
Loving yourself means knowing how to forgive yourself and those who hurt you. How you forgive yourself is the same as forgiving someone who asks you for forgiveness sincerely.
Not letting go of your mistakes stop you from moving forward, and you get stuck in the past. If you made mistakes, do what is necessary to remedy your wrongdoings and reclaim your credibility.
Showing forgiveness to yourself and others is a starting point toward self-love and self-respect.
14. Put Yourself First
You shouldn’t feel awful about putting yourself first. You may feel that this is a selfish act.
But it is not healthy if you spend most of your time fulfilling other people’s needs. You may jeopardize your mental and emotional well-being.
So, make sure to prioritize yourself first. Start considering what is most important to you now.
Your health and well-being are more important than anything else. If you feel overwhelmed with your life right now, you have all the right to take a rest.
A good rest is rejuvenating and a basic form of self-love.
15. Practice Loving Yourself Consistently
Loving yourself does not magically happen overnight in reality. Knowing how to love yourself is a journey, a skill to be mastered.
Loving yourself takes time. It is your most vital duty in life and the most life-changing thing you can do for yourself.
You are a self-sufficient individual who requires minimal affirmation and reassurance from others. Keep taking small, deliberate steps toward becoming who you truly are.
Acknowledge and reward yourself for the small wins. Be thankful for everything that happens to you. As you discover yourself and know your wants and needs, you will become more independent.
How To Love Yourself And Be Confident In a Relationship
1. Don’t get discouraged if you notice shortcomings in yourself
A relationship will always play a role as a mirror to your weaknesses. Habits, values, and views about yourself that you’ve come to terms with may annoy your partner.
We are all flawed in some way. While some of it can be disregarded, others may require your attention. In any case, don’t allow your shortcomings to bring you down or obstruct you from loving yourself.
Being in a relationship means revealing your true self to your partner, including both your strengths and areas for growth. Understanding your unique strengths through tools like the HIGH5 test can be transformative for your relationship. It allows you to bring your best self forward and appreciate your partner’s unique talents. Remember, your areas for improvement don’t make you unlovable; they’re simply opportunities for growth. By focusing on each other’s strengths, couples can build a more positive, supportive relationship dynamic.
2. Remember, love is an action, not a feeling
Love is an action that you decide to take, not an emotion that you feel.
Even if you don’t love yourself, try to act self-lovingly. Allocate time in your schedule to pamper yourself and satisfy your desires.
“Me time” is when you prioritize yourself over other obligations or people. One way to do this is to arrange “me time” daily.
You can schedule it at the end of your working day or in the morning after waking up. Indulge in simple activities or hobbies that you enjoy doing.
It’s all about developing a self-love routine. One session may not leave a significant impact on yourself. However, with consistency and dedication in performing it daily, the cumulative benefits will be tremendous.
3. Practice good personal hygiene
If you haven’t already, start taking care of your hygiene and cleanliness. Take daily showers, brush and floss your teeth daily, trim your nails, etc.
Ensure you are doing everything your parents advised you to do, but you stopped doing after moving out.
Taking care of yourself is a form of self-love. You are making sure that you present yourself in the best possible manner to others. It will also make us more appealing to be around.
If you’re wondering whether you’re practicing proper personal hygiene, consult someone. Ask your parents, partner, or close friends to offer you their honest assessment of your hygiene routine.
Pro Tip From HIGH5
Share your HIGH5 test results with your partner and encourage them to take the test too. Use this as a foundation for understanding each other better. Plan date nights or activities that allow both of you to showcase and appreciate each other’s unique strengths, fostering mutual admiration and stronger connection.
Bonus: How To Love Yourself And Be Confident After a Breakup
1. Have some “me” time
If you ever experience a break-up, It is more crucial than ever to pursue your interests. It distracts you from the intense feeling of pain, sadness and frustration.
Now is the ideal moment to start a new hobby or finish that thing you’ve been putting off.
Set aside time every week to do something you enjoy. Having some “me time” will significantly reduce your stress levels and help keep your mood up.
2. Focus on the positive
After breaking up, it will take some time for you to get into the appropriate frame of mind. However, as you reflect on your relationship, aim to identify something positive from that experience.
Finding a silver lining in emotional baggage may turn an unpleasant experience into a positive one.
Learning from your failed relationships allows you to become a better person and not make the same mistakes again in future relationships.
3. Surround yourself with close friends and family
Having a strong support system can help you heal and bounce back from a painful breakup. Your loved ones can listen to your concerns and give you a shoulder to lean on.
Plan a few outings with your buddies to do something enjoyable. Nobody knows how long it will take you to feel better and recover from your breakup.
However, having the support of your loved ones may help increase your self-confidence. They are there to make you laugh and remind you constantly that you deserve to be happy.
3 Books On How To Love Yourself And Be Confident
The Self-Love Experiment by Shannon Kaiser
This book’s title explicitly says “self-love,” so you know it will be a great read. Based on personal experiences, Kaiser shares valuable methods that help you accept and love yourself first to achieve success in your life.
If you’re new to the concept of self-love and need a road map, the author’s 15 self-love principles can get you started in the right direction.
The Self-Care Solution by Jennifer Ashton, M.D., M.S.
This self-care guide provides realistic monthly challenges for you to start practicing right away. These challenges will help you reorganize your life in a more manageable way.
The author will walk you through her experiences with these activities, including science-backed advantages and challenges she encountered.
So it feels as if you’ve got a friend who cheers you along and accompanies you throughout this self-care journey.
You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero
Like its catchy title, this self-love book seeks to help you develop your confidence and accept your best self.
Sincero’s book delves into subjects such as self-image, spirituality, healthy money views, meditation, and purpose in simple language and practical how-tos.
5 Inspiring Quotes For Self-love And Confidence
- “You deserve someone who makes you feel like the otherworldly creature you are. Yourself.” — Amanda Lovelace
- “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” — Lucille Ball
- “Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do.” — Brené Brown
- “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right here.” — Venus Williams
- “I just wanted to remind you, in case you needed to hear it, to be kind and loving to yourself, and talk to yourself like you would talk to your best friend.” — Camila Cabello
Frequently Asked Questions About Loving Yourself
How do I start to love myself?
Loving yourself means knowing how to forgive yourself and those who hurt you. Showing forgiveness to yourself and others is a starting point toward self-love and self-respect.
Furthermore, you should prioritize putting yourself first. Start considering what is most important to you now. Let go of any guilt you may feel about rejecting others.
How do I love myself with low self-esteem?
If you are experiencing low self-esteem but desire to love yourself more, you can start by learning something new. It can be anything from learning a new language to acquiring new skills.
As your experiences and skills expand, you will feel more confident in yourself. As a result, you will love yourself more and perceive yourself as competent.
How do I find myself again?
Rediscovering and loving yourself is a journey, a skill to be mastered.
It takes time. Keep taking small, deliberate steps toward becoming who you truly are. Acknowledge and reward yourself for the small wins. Be thankful for everything that happens to you.
As you discover yourself and know your wants and needs, you will become more independent.
