The Importance of Self-Love & Improving Your Mental Health

Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash

Self-love is something that not everyone has for themselves, but when you must struggle with your mental health condition(s), having love for yourself is very important in mental wellness. When you learn to love yourself just the way you are, you may have fewer negative thoughts than someone who hates the person staring back at them in the mirror.

It is important to try to learn to love yourself inside and out. People who have self-love also have higher self-esteem because they have learned to love themselves, flaws, and all. They also tend to attract fewer negative people and more positive people. The energy you put out in to the world draws that same energy back towards you. Positive attracts positive, and negative attracts negative.

I have struggled with self-love and self-compassion most of my life. I have had mental health professionals suggest that I try affirmations but I felt so silly saying positive things about myself when I could not believe anything I was saying. It took me many years until I started giving affirmations a real try. The longer you tell yourself the same affirmations repeatedly, you can start to finally believe what you are saying to yourself. The three affirmations my best friend told me to try to start with is; I am beautiful, I am loved, and I am happy.

Of course, you can come up with other affirmations to try such as; I love myself inside and out, I am a good person, or I am worthy of love. You just need to use “I am” statements that are positive and helpful. I have been able to gain some self-esteem from saying affirmations, which is a good place to start. I may not look like a model but I am still beautiful.  

After you start to feel more comfortable saying affirmations you can try to look at your self in the mirror while you tell yourself you are beautiful. And before you know it, you will start to realize your worth and that you do not need to put up with someone that puts you down. It is an amazing process, but you just have to keep up with saying positive stuff about yourself to yourself.

When you have self-love, it can help tremendously with your mental health. You are not fighting with yourself over things that you do not like about yourself anymore. It can feel extremely freeing. It helps you better control your mental health symptoms and make you a happier person in general. It can help you think more positively.

If you do not currently feel like your can practice self-love, it is something that you need to work on every day. It takes time to build love for yourself. It is not something that will just happen overnight. Start slow, pick three affirmations that you can say to yourself daily and just focus on that. Even if you do not believe what you are telling yourself at first, that is okay. Just keep at it and over time you will start to feel a change in yourself that is positive. I know I am really pushing affirmations, but it honestly helps. Say your affirmations several times a day or whenever you think of it. If you skip a day, do not beat yourself up about it. You can always try again the next day.

Learning to love yourself is important because you are stuck with yourself every day, all day. The better you feel about yourself will show in your mental health and mood. You may experience less symptoms from your mental health disorder. You also have to practice self-care. Make sure you are taking any medications you are prescribed daily and around the same time. Take 30 minutes out of each day to do something you enjoy doing. Take a hot bath, read a book, listen to upbeat music, journal, blog, basically anything that gets you away from the daily stress and other people.

Having self-love will give your mental health a boost. Which anyone struggling with their mental health could use a mental boost, don’t you agree?