So anyone listening to pop music or scrolling through instagram right now knows that what we're supposed to be doing these days is learning to love ourselves. Sounds pretty simple right? And yet in reality, I think it's harder to pull off than it seems.

If one took social media as our education on such things, we might be lulled into believing that taking bubble baths & drinking wine will do this for us. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE bubble baths and wine (best when drinking wine in the bath I've found 😂), but I'm not sure that is enough to constitute true self love.

I believe that loving and cherishing ourselves for who we are is a vital step on the path to happiness. It will set us free from inhibitions, from negative self talk, from body image issues, from hiding parts of ourselves away, from making ourselves small or not allowing our skills to flourish. It releases our full, colourful, multi-dimensional souls and allows them to shine. It is so worth the effort - but often it's hard to know what we need to do to make that happen.

While I was thinking about this, I remembered a concept I was introduced to a few years back called 'love languages' (I'm aware I might be tooootally behind on this and you've all known what these are for years haha). The idea is that different people show love in 5 different ways: acts of service; quality time; words of affirmation; physical touch and receiving gifts.

These are usually discussed in the context of romantic relationships between two people - but really there's not much difference between a healthy loving relationship with another person, and a healthy loving relationship with ourselves. Because in loving ourselves, we still deserve
- to be treated with respect, kindness and care 
- to indulge in quality time
- love and appreciation
- the occasional gift
- to be a priority

So I propose that we spend the quality time to get to know ourselves better; validate our thoughts with respect; approach ourselves with kindness always; show ourselves care when we're suffering; speak only positive affirmations about ourselves; appreciate the wonderful & unique things we bring to the table; prioritise ourselves and our wellbeing; and treat ourselves to the occasional gift (cause honey, you're worth it!).

Whether you class yourself as single, taken, married or 'it's complicated', we must still invest highly in nurturing a loving relationship with ourselves and cherishing the awesome human we are. From there, only good things can grow.

Pick one of the five love languages and try to do one thing every day this week for yourself in that category. See how it makes you feel - indulge in feeling loved, cared for and appreciated by yourself!

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