10 Ways to practice self-love and become your best ally

Self-love is the most important love.

There’s only one person you have to live with for your entire life, yourself. So why not learning to love yourself unconditionally?

For some people, self-love is natural. For others, it requires some work. But it’s in the reach of everyone and starts with daily steps.

Learn how to practice self-love in 10 ways and become your best ally!

1. Plan some me-time

Time for yourself should be a non-negotiable.

Me-time is necessary to reflect on your life, feelings, and listen to your needs… without being influenced by anyone else.

If taking time for yourself always comes last, plan these moments as you would plan 2 hours of cleaning a week!

2. Be compassionate with yourself

If you’re a perfectionist, you know what it feels like to make a mistake – like the world was ending *dramatic*

The thing is, the mistake you think about for 53 hours before it happened… people forgot about it in 5 minutes.

Show yourself some compassion, everyone makes mistakes! And people are too busy thinking about their own life anyway.

Set this rule for yourself : if you won’t remember it in 2 years, don’t spend more than 10 minutes thinking about it.

3. Write down what you’re doing well

Journaling is, to me, a form of therapy and a self-love ritual – nothing new here. And if I find it is sooo therapeutic, it’s because it enables you to talk to yourself.

It’s your opportunity to write everything you’re doing well at. What you’ve accomplished, learned, and how you evolve on a daily basis. When writing all that, you’ll start to realize that there are many things you can be proud of.

4. Move your body baby

Not because you should lose weight or have a six-pack to love yourself. Only because exercising makes you feel incredible – mentally and physically.

So when you’re not motivated, think about the endorphins (aka the happiness hormone) that will make you feel fabulous afterward.

5. Make yourself your number 1 priority

What? You don’t have to go to this family dinner that annoys you? Nor to accept an extra task you were assigned to do at work?

I’ve always been a people-pleaser myself. Because I was scared to disappoint, appear inflexible or rude.

It turns out that your time and energy are what’s most precious. Forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to is a lack of respect for yourself.

Learn how to say know and listening to your needs before anybody else’s. Because what’s the point in doing something if you’re not giving your best anyway?

6. Eat healthy (yet delicious) meals

Eating well is a form of respect for your body.

Having nutritious food on your plate every day will help your body work and feel well. And who doesn’t want that?

I’m not saying you should stop eating chocolate or ice cream – because that doesn’t sound like enjoying life. My advice is to have 80% of healthy and unprocessed food. With the 20% left, enjoy yourself!

My other advice is to cook at home as much as you can. And there’s no need to be a chef to eat delicious food. Head to my nutrition section to find plenty of easy recipes to make!

7. Stay in your own lane

Easy to say, I know. Comparing yourself is the best way to doubt yourself.

Focus on your own path, your own evolution, and your own goals. This is super important.

To help with this, limit your time on social media. Seeing what everyone else is doing can be mentally draining and discouraging.

Remember that most of the time, you compare your worst to someone else’s best version. That’s the thing, there’s not a lot of people out there that show their struggles and failures. Always keep that in mind.

8. Sleep enough

Sleep is often underestimated… right? Yet, having your 8 hours of sleep every night has a significant place in your wellness.

And yes, this is also a form of self-love!

When you don’t sleep enough, your body produces stress – which is not the best position to be in. It can have repercussions on your energy, so you’re less productive, less patient… and might want to be harder on yourself.

Every experienced this?

9. Celebrate small wins

No, you don’t need to graduate or win a trophy to celebrate your achievements.

Finished a long week of work? Cheers! Just finished your training sessions? Happy dance! Went through your income tax return? High-five!

Celebrating small wins will make you proud of yourself, and this is so important.

PS. No need to always celebrate your accomplishments. Why not celebrate your mistakes too? After all, it’s a form of learning too and thus a mistake you won’t be making anymore (-;

10. Plan your life

To spend time with yourself, cook healthy meals, and eating enough on top of your activities, you’ll need some planning.

If you have a tight schedule, I recommend you plan everything. But I mean EVERYTHING. Start by setting your priorities and then adding 1 hour of workout, 10 minutes of journaling, and 30 minutes to shower.

Planning and writing, you will be more likely to do it AND you won’t be able to say “Oh, I had no time for that” at the end of the day.

Do you have any other advice on how to practice self-love? Leave them in the comments below!