5 Ways to Practice Self-Love and Confidence

Recently, I took an entire day for myself because I needed it. I started by going to a yoga class, taking myself out for a healthy lunch, and checked grocery shopping off my to-do list. When I got home, I deep-cleaned my entire apartment for 4 hours while listening to podcasts and learning about some really interesting things. I got so far down my cleaning list I cleaned out my toaster oven and hand-washed my scrunchies!

Let’s be honest, your version of self-care probably doesn’t look like finally running errands and deep-cleaning your space. It is cathartic for me because I know that when tasks (like cleaning) continue to be pushed to the bottom of my to-do list, it becomes harder for me to be productive. As cheesy as it is, a clean space gives me a clean mind.

I bring this up because it is so important to understand that everyone has their own way to reset. I cannot stress the importance of individuality within self love, care, and confidence enough! So here are five ways to continue to discovering yourself, practice loving yourself, and skyrocket your confidence level!

Writing things out allows you to see what you’ve been thinking all on one page. I have found it quite useful to write lists for myself to refer to. For me, starting with a list of things I love about myself opened a window of self-appreciation. Shifting your mindset is extremely powerful. Simply focusing on what you are good at rather than what you want to change about yourself is a great way to start being kinder and more positive toward yourself.

Another useful tip I have is to make a list of things you hate about yourself. But instead of keeping this list around for you to see often, rewrite it with the flipped perspective: you actually love these things about yourself. Looking at this list often and focusing on the positives you can find about each trait will help breathe new confidence into your daily life.

If you enjoy writing, try writing a love letter to yourself. Using the characteristics and traits about yourself that you wrote in your list, craft a kind, loving letter for your future self. Reading something like this in the future will help remind you not to be so hard on yourself.

Being alone is extremely important because it gives you time to really discover your interests, who you are, and who you want to be. Use your time alone to think about what makes you happiest and to try new things without anyone watching.

If you can, try to balance your alone time with spending time with people who make you happy. Go for a bike ride or play a board game with your family and friends, sign up for extracurriculars to meet more people, or just spend an entire day being goofy with your best friend!

It is easier to feel confident when you’ve been moving your body. Not only does moving release endorphins that benefit your mood, you will have more energy and generally feel better about yourself! It is important to try different forms of movement to figure out what feels the best to you.

Breathing is extremely important. In a moment when you’re not feeling confident or experiencing the self-love you should be, it can be grounding to focus on your breath. There are practices that value working on breath. These include yoga, forms of martial arts, swimming, and much more. Connecting breathing and movement has the ability to bring greater senses of grounded-ness and confidence into your life.

There is something about breathing in fresh air that seems to be grounding and give you an instant reset. Additionally, changing your setting from indoor to outdoor can have amazing effects on your mood. And let’s be honest, it’s easier to be confident and love yourself when you’re in a good mood! Plus, being in nature can be quite soothing.

It can be really hard to realize when something in your life is impacting you in a toxic way. A lot of the time this can manifest in your relationships with others. I have had many friendships over the years that were full of mean, unfair behaviour. The people I was around were weighing me down and making me feel bad about myself physically and mentally. Once I realized how terrible these relationships were and the importance of maintaining my own happiness, I distanced myself from the toxic people in my life. The results were not immediate, but I have seen my confidence and self-appreciation increase significantly (so give yourself time to heal).

We live in a time that is dominated by technology and social media. Often, this opens the door to a lot of comparing yourself to others and obsessing over picture-perfect lives. But it is extremely important to remember that the curated Instagram feeds of your most-creeped celebrities are not authentic windows into their lives. People select what they want to share on social media.

It can be hard to remind ourselves that what we see on social media is not a true representation of reality. As we try to remind ourselves of this, a quicker way to make your social media platforms a healthier environment is to unfollow anyone who does not add value to your life, self-love, and confidence. Think about why you’re following the people you are. If you’re only following someone because you think they’re beautiful or have a “perfect body” and end up feeling down about yourself when you see them in your feed, do yourself a favour and unfollow! Trust me, when you follow empowering people who lift your confidence, your day will feel a lot brighter.

I hope these tips help bring you the self-love and confidence you deserve! Remember, you really do deserve it!