The Importance of Self-Love | Made Series
In this post I want to address that we all come from hardships, we all have our very own personal stories and flaws that make us who we are. Through my experience, I found that we need to embrace these personal stories, flaws and hardships in order to move forward and practice self-love.
Since I was young, I have always been a people pleaser. That's until I realized that it was mentally & physically causing damage to my myself and well-being. I was in constant need of validation from others, including my friends, family, co-workers, relationships and even the dog next door to feel worthy (The list goes on-and-on). Finally, I decided enough is enough and its time to put myself first (this was last week, when my counsellor drew a picture of a doormat on the white board and pointed out that it was me).
After that session I began to really think about what self-love really looked like and why it was so important to me.
So after hours of over-thinking and using my creative outlet, here's what I came up with:
5 Reasons Why Self-Love is so important:
1) You cannot be the best, if you're not at your best
It is important to keep your self whole, that includes in mind, body, and soul. You cannot offer 100% to others if you are running on empty.
2) Relationships & Love
Know your worth! Know your worth! KNOW YOUR WORTH!! I cannot say this enough.
That being said, I will be the first to openly admit that I am no love-guru. One thing I do know from experience is that... If you do not love and respect yourself, people won't either. Throughout my past relationships, I found that I would make the common mistake of loving my partner before myself. I would get so caught up within the relationship, that I would find myself at the point where I was sacrificing everything about me in effort to try to please another being. Both men and women everywhere know exactly what I mean when I say this!
When you take the time to practice self-love you will begin to nourish your inner-light, allowing you to trust your feelings and decisions moving forward. At that point, you will then begin to respect and value yourself as a whole and authentic being.
Now with this new-found power you have discovered (that was always in you) you will stop focusing on the negative and naturally attract some honest and true love!
Remember..."The grass is always greener on the other side, when you stop watering your own." (Self-love first!)
3) The fear of letting go of baggage
I'm the type of girl that never packs light, but then again what girl actually does when they are travelling.. too bad in this scenario i'm talking about my life. Most people fear baggage, not me, baggage is my best friend. If I didn't have it, I wouldn't be the person I am today and I embrace that completely. However, on that point not all baggage is suited to be carried around.
Imagine carrying that heavy toxic baggage you have been holding onto for years up a flight of stairs...now think about that flight of stairs turning into the empire state building's. Yeah.. not going to get anywhere very fast, and most would probably give up and look for the elevator or quickest exit (easy route). Well hate to break it to you but there are no short-cuts in life, as so I am told. Although the things from your past have the ability to shape you, they do not define solely who you are as a person. Yes, that means we have a chance! When you embrace self-love you will begin to question the toxicity that you allow in your life and face it head-on. Therefore deciphering what is healthy to keep around and whats not. It's time to unpack and release some of that unnecessary baggage that has been holding you down.
4) Communicating & connecting
We live in a world where with a click of a button you can connect with just about anyone, anywhere. With the ability to do this, why as humans are we the worst at connecting and communicating?
Well, we can definitely try to blame it on technology, but if that was completely the case.. I wouldn't be communicating this information to you now.
I feel that as humans, we should of been taught better...or we should at least know better! We are so utterly terrified of how others will judge, or think of us, that we put up walls and communicate information that is not how we actually feel. For years, I held in certain traits about myself that make me truly unique.. as I was in fear of people thinking i'm weird... Uh, truth is, I am weird! and I love and accept that completely now. I find that if we begin to communicate our true authentic selves to one another, you then will realize we are all not that different.
When my mother passed away, it opened my eyes to the importance of communicating and connecting myself with the others and the universe. I found myself on a spiritual journey, longing for a sense of community and connection to fill the void and loss of her. Well I got exactly what I was in search for, which brings me here today connecting with you!
Let's compare poor communication and connection to an easy topic that we all understand... Low cellphone reception!
Now, think about attempting to phone your friend/partner/co-worker/ and or family member while they were standing in the middle of no-where and you were calling them from a basement elevator. (I don't know how my mind thinks of these things, but lets roll with it) The fact is in this scenario... one of you are not going to properly be able to hear each other and someone is going to get frustrated and disconnect. This is a perfect example of poor communication today.. when the message you are trying to portray is not clearly being received, either participant will eventually get frustrated and disconnect.
Think of all the people you have to communicate with in a day.. This disconnect can happen in any scenario, any day, at any time in your life. That is why it is so important to be able to self-love first. Once you can communicate to yourself, then you will be able to communicate who you are and your needs to others effectively.
5) In obtaining your dreams & personal goals (teaching yourself accountability)
Find out more by joining the FREE resource library below and downloading the self-love workbook.
Thank you for reading, I would love to hear your thoughts. Please like, comment, and share below!
xoxo
Tatianna Taylor-Tait
