{"id":492,"date":"2024-02-14T14:15:41","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T19:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/?p=492"},"modified":"2024-02-14T14:15:43","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T19:15:43","slug":"practicing-self-love-this-valentines-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/2024\/02\/14\/practicing-self-love-this-valentines-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Practicing Self-Love This Valentine\u2019s Day\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By: Yashvi Patel, Kennedy College of Sciences Well-being Leader&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Valentine\u2019s day isn\u2019t just about lovers expressing their affection by exchanging cards, flowers, and candy, and having romantic meals in restaurants. Nonetheless, it is a day to show extra love and appreciation for those who you care about, and that should include yourself. It all starts with yourself. I really believe that love starts from within and that your capacity to love someone else is largely driven by your capacity to love yourself. What I mean by that is you cannot give something that you are unfamiliar with yourself. Self-love allows you to love others because you know how to care for yourself. I think loving yourself and loving others goes hand in hand. If you develop inner contentment and wellbeing, you can naturally strengthen your relationship with others. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Practicing self-love offers many benefits for your body and mind. Self-love helps you overcome insecurity. When you practice self-love, you become more forgiving of your flaws and accept your imperfections as something that makes you unique. People who love themselves are more confident and self-assured. Self-love can also encourage personal growth and self-improvement. You are more aware of your flaws and areas of improvements that you can actively work on to better your overall wellbeing. There are 8 dimensions of wellness that you can concentrate your efforts on: emotional, physical, occupational, social, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, and financial. Self-love also allows you to be at peace with yourself as you let go of negative self-talk, self-doubt, and self-criticism, and bring in positivity and happiness. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I like to schedule \u201cme time\u201d at least once a week where I have one commitment, which is to myself. My self-care routine typically consists of putting on some relaxing music, doing a face mask, doing my eyebrows, and finishing it off by applying some oils and moisturizer. I also have days where I feel lonely and would enjoy the company of others, so I typically travel to Boston and catch up with some friends or go for a stroll around the seaport area. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This February 14<sup>th<\/sup>, pamper and treat yourself to your own curated self-care routine. If you have nowhere to start, you can start by using positive affirmations, which are statements and phrases that replace negative self-talk with positive thoughts. Below are some powerful self-love affirmations you can use on Valentine\u2019s Day. You can repeat these statements out loud or write them down in a journal. Personally, I like to make sticky notes of some of my favorite affirmations and stick them on my dressing table mirror, so they serve as constant reminders&nbsp;to think positively while I\u2019m getting ready. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>I am perfect, just the way I am.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"2\"><li>I am constantly growing, evolving, and becoming my best self.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"3\"><li>I am a constant work in progress.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"4\"><li>I am proud of who I am becoming.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"5\"><li>I am learning to love myself more every day.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"6\"><li>I accept my failures, but they do not define me.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"7\"><li>I am not less for making mistakes. I am more because I learn from them.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"8\"><li>My goal is progress, not perfection.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"9\"><li>I am worthy of love, with my flaws and all.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"10\"><li>I will treat myself with the kindness of a friend.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"11\"><li>My imperfections make me unique.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"12\"><li>I will not apologize for being me.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"13\"><li>I will set my boundaries and reinforce them.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"14\"><li>My body does not determine my worth.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"15\"><li>I will accept my body the way it is today.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"16\"><li>I care for my health, not for my body to look a certain way.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"17\"><li>I am grateful for this mind, body and soul.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"18\"><li>One bad day does not make me a bad person.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"19\"><li>I will send love to my worries and doubts.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"20\"><li>I will let go of things that no longer serve me.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Resources:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.journey.cloud\/valentines-self-love-affirmations\/\">https:\/\/blog.journey.cloud\/valentines-self-love-affirmations\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Yashvi Patel, Kennedy College of Sciences Well-being Leader&nbsp; Valentine\u2019s day isn\u2019t just about lovers expressing their affection by exchanging cards, flowers, and candy, and having romantic meals in restaurants. Nonetheless, it is a day to show extra love and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/2024\/02\/14\/practicing-self-love-this-valentines-day\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,7],"tags":[5,20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/wellbeing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}