We show love for the important people in our lives all the time, but are we doing the same for ourselves? Knowing how to practice self-love can be a struggle, but these tips and free printables will make showing love for yourself a consistent priority.
Cuddling your kids before bed.
Bringing a friend a meal after she has a baby.
Kissing your husband when he gets home from work.
Babysitting your sister’s kids.
We show love for the important people in our lives every day, but when was the last time we took the time to do so for ourselves? Do we even know how? Between pushing past the stigma society has placed on self-love, making it a priority, finding the time, and getting over the awkwardness, showing love for ourselves can seem pretty impossible.
But it doesn’t have to be complicated. Regularly showing ourselves love comes down to two things:
- Making a list of ways to do so.
- Scheduling a time to make it it happen.
Use Your Love Language
Before you make your list, you need to figure out your Love Language. This is based off The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. If you’ve never heard of these, they’re typically used in romantic relationships so that significant others know how to show each other love in the way that’s going to mean the most.
There’s also a kid version you can use for your children. But today, we’re going to use it for ourselves.
You can learn more and take a quiz to learn your love language here. If you’ve taken the quiz before, but it’s been awhile, I recommend you take it again. Love languages can and do change over time–at least for me!
Make A List
Once you know your love language(s) (some people have more than one) go ahead and make a list of specific ways you can show yourself love based off of that language. Your language is key because it will guide you to the actions that mean the most to you personally.
I created a free printable that has 8 suggestions for each language to help get your creative wheels turning. You can download it here or by clicking on the image below.
I tried to include a combination of free suggestions and suggestions that cost money, so you have options either way!
I also created a printable for you to list your personalized suggestions. You can download that one here or by clicking the image below.
Schedule it in
It’s not enough to simply list ways to show yourself love. If you only make the list, nothing will actually happen. You have to make it a priority and schedule it in to your everyday life. Whether you schedule it in daily, weekly, or monthly, that’s up to you.
My suggestion is to do a combination–pick a couple things to do every month, a short list to choose one from each week, and something small to do each day. Put in in your routine or set a reminder in your calendar.
Additionally, whenever you’re feeling down or stressed or hear your inner critic getting louder, pull out your list and complete an activity!
Showing Love for Yourself
Showing love for yourself is a hard but important skill to learn. The more we practice self-love, the better we become at it. And the more we model a healthy positive self-image, the better our kids will be at it themselves.
By taking the time to learn our love language, listing some specific self-love activities that would be meaningful for us, and making time for those activities in our schedule, our self-image will improve and our kids will learn that it’s okay (and important) to love themselves.
What’s your love language? I’m equal parts Words of Affirmation and Acts of Service. I’m curios your what your language is, so let me know in the comments below!
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Britney is a wife and mom with a passion for helping other women see the good inside of them. She loves podcasts, polka dots, and dancing around the kitchen with her family.