Remember the song, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover?  In this week’s post, I’m sharing 29 ways to love yourself.  Sounds a little more upbeat, don’t ya think?

Why 29?

Because I thought we should celebrate the fact that it’s a leap year — a year that only comes along once every four years, and includes an extra day.  That extra day is February 29.  Crazy cool fact: Both my sister-in-law and her first daughter were born on leap year…there’s only a 1 in 2-million chance of that happening!  I think there’s at least a 4 in 2-million chance of seeing a unicorn!

Since February is a month symbolizing and celebrating love, I thought we’d look inward and focus on ways to practice self-love.

Now, when I suggest we turn inward and focus on self-love, that’s a good thing and shouldn’t be confused with being self-centered or narcissistic.  Self-love is critical to maintaining a healthy, happy, and balanced life.  When we love ourselves well, we are more loveable to others too, so you can’t go wrong.

Loving yourself shouldn’t be complicated, but it can take intention and effort.  I’ve listed out 29 ways to show love to yourself. These suggestions are ones that I, personally, use or that may be beneficial to you.  Of course, there may be things that would better show love to yourself that aren’t on this list–focus on what will serve you best.

Some of the ideas below are easier and take less time than others–great!  Others will take some reflection, some soul-searching, and maybe some accountability or support in other ways.

Here’s how I suggest you use the list:

1.  Either print this post or get a notebook out to write down the items in step #3.

2.  Read through the list and place a check-mark next to the areas where you feel like you’re already showing yourself love in those ways.  Good job on those, by the way!

3.   Now go back through the list and circle 1-3 of the actions you’ll commit to working on throughout the next month.

4.  At the end of the month, review the 1-3 actions you’ve been working on and, if you’ve noticed great improvement, place a check-mark next to the item.  If you haven’t noticed great improvement, continue working on your love goal.

29 Ways to Love on Yourself 

1. Surround yourself with people that lift you, inspire you, and make you feel good.
2. Get rid of toxic people in your life.
3. Speak kindly to yourself.  Don’t say things to yourself that you wouldn’t say to someone you respected or loved.
4. Laugh often.  Laughter is salve for the soul.
5. Take walks, on a regular basis, with no other goal but to notice the beauty around you.
6. Sleep at least 7 hours every night.  The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7+ hours/night for adults.
7. Exercise.  30-minutes per day is ideal.
8. Stretch your body.  There’s a reason cats seem so content…they stretch a lot. Click here for 10 simple stretches to try today.
9. Eat well.  Maybe this just means to add a salad to your diet every day.  Maybe it means consuming less sugar.  Maybe it means drink more milk.  Check out this book, Eat Right 4 Your Type, that’ll help you to choose foods that agree with you based on your blood type.
10. Don’t compare yourself to others.  Focus on, and celebrate, your own special gifts and abilities.
11. Read books that you enjoy or make you feel good.
12. Say “no” more often.  Saying no to someone or something is not bad.  Saying no leaves you open to really good yes’s.
13. Write a letter to God and pour your heart out.
14. Spend five minutes writing down what your perfect day would look like.  Now, plan to make it happen.
15. Skip the doughnut…start your day with a healthy, delicious green smoothie.  Try this one with only four ingredients.
16. Write in a gratitude journal daily.  I have a bunch of journaling ideas here.
17. Take a 24-hour social media break.  Better yet, take a week or a month away from all the screens that suck up time.
18. Do more of what you love.  If you love to play cards, but rarely play, schedule a weekly or monthly card night.
19. Learn something that you’ve always wanted to.  Take a class, teach yourself, or learn online.  Just Google, “How to (put a word(s) for whatever it is you want to learn here)” and see what strikes your fancy.
20. Write a list of things other people say you do well, or they like about you.  Keep that list handy for when you need encouragement.
21. Let go of a grudge you’ve held for far too long.  Releasing the grudge = your freedom and peace.
22. Cut yourself some slack.  Have you noticed, we can be our own worst critic?  Just treat yourself fairly.
23. Being an adult can be exhausting, so spend more time acting like a kid. Need some ideas on how? I wrote about it here.
24. Accept who you are.  Change what you can and want to, and accept the rest.
25. Go on a personal retreat where you will come away rested, renewed, re-energized, inspired, and clear on “stuff”.
26. Be a blessing to someone else.  Funny thing is, you will be blessed yourself by this action.
27. Keep a happiness jar (aka: blessing box & gratitude jar).  Just write down things you are thankful for, that make you happy or make you laugh, etc. on a little piece of paper and store them in a jar.  Pull them out and read when you need some encouragement.  Here’s a cute DIY Happiness Jar with step-by-step instructions.
28. Invest in yourself.  This ties in to some of the earlier items on the list like taking a class, going on a retreat, etc.  It may be that you finally buy that Kitchen Aide mixer you’ve always dreamed of to start your cupcake business.  Maybe you’ve wanted to attend a conference, spend time learning something new, or buy a good camera to develop your photography hobby.
29. Believe in yourself.  This will come more naturally the more you love yourself, but if you’re not there yet, try and be your own cheerleader.  If you’ve ever been an encouragement to someone else, then remember what that was like and do the same for yourself…you deserve it.

Here’s to loving ourselves and others!

Love,

Jill xx