{"id":2392,"date":"2011-12-09T12:01:10","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T17:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/?p=2392"},"modified":"2011-11-20T22:23:53","modified_gmt":"2011-11-21T03:23:53","slug":"10-reasons-to-love-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html","title":{"rendered":"10 Reasons to Love Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>With the holiday season upon us, everyone is out looking for gifts to give others. Yet it\u2019s also important to consider the gifts you can give YOU. The greatest give you can give yourself is yourself\u2014filled with self-love. Unfortunately, many people have a hard time giving this gift is hard and are more concerned with giving others love than they are in giving it to self. That\u2019s backwards!<\/p>\n

January is Self-Love Month<\/a><\/strong> and I encourage you to think about beginning the new year with an effort to love yourself. Don\u2019t just make self-love a New Years resolution. Take my 31 Days of Self-Love Challeng<\/strong><\/a>e, a pledge to do something loving for yourself for the first 31 days f the year, to jumpstart building self-love. Hopefully, if you enjoy it, you\u2019ll continue to be kind to yourself every day.<\/p>\n

Self-love fees great! Loving yourself and who you are creates a satisfying feeling of contentment. Instead of fighting with yourself, beating yourself up or being hard on yourself, you accept yourself in your own imperfect skin. Romantic love feels great\u00a0 but being able to give love to you all the time trumps that! Here are 10 reasons to build your self-love:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Self-love attracts love.<\/strong> While it\u2019s an almost played out philosophy, it remains that truth that if you want love, especially from a romantic partner, you have the best chance of attracting someone healthy and loving if you\u2019re healthy and loving to you. The Law of Attraction helps with that. But in addition to that, loving yourself radiates out from you and makes you more attractive, to everyone, whether at work or play.<\/p>\n

Self-love motivates taking good care of your health.<\/strong> When I began to love me, I also began to work out in the gym with a trainer, run in the park, take vitamins and supplements, and be more vigilant about what I eat. Loving yourself makes you want to take good care of the one body you have. Doing whatever you can to improve and maintain your health says, \u201cI love me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-love is spiritual.<\/strong> Not loving yourself is not. It\u2019s hard to be spiritual and not like yourself at the same time. You may pray to God and go to a place of worship and try to be a good person but if you\u2019re not being loving to you, something is off. The more you love yourself, the more you have to give and the stronger your faith becomes. God wants you to love yourself, not just others!<\/p>\n

Self-love helps you appreciate yourself.<\/strong> It helps you view yourself through the lens of love and acceptance, not criticism, self-doubt, beating yourself up for your imperfections or only seeing what\u2019s wrong with you. It allows you to recognize and celebrate the good qualities you have instead of ignoring them until the day you lose those extra pounds, find a way to make more money, get the hair you envy in others, or whatever shortcoming you make more important than the good person you are.<\/p>\n

Self-love gives you a 24\/7 best friend.<\/strong> Other friends may come and go but when you love yourself, you\u2019ll always be there for you. At that point you can learn to enjoy your own company so you\u2019ll never feel alone. Since I fell in love with me I began eating out, traveling, going to shows and movies, for walks, etc. on my own and love it! When I didn\u2019t love me I treated people to join me so I\u2019d have company. Self-love makes you the best friend you could possibly have since you know what you need and will get it.<\/p>\n

Self-love helps you make healthier decisions.\u00a0<\/strong>While I still occasionally eat French fries, chips, rich desserts, etc., I do it in moderation. When I didn\u2019t love myself, I never considered how I hurt my body by consistently eating unhealthy food. I ate it for comfort, as a substitute for the love I didn\u2019t have. Now that I love me, I think more about what to eat. It also helps me to say \u201cno\u201d to things I don\u2019t want to do, clear toxic people from my life, and never settle for the best in a romantic partner. Self-love is a barometer for your choices that motivates doing things that are better for you.<\/p>\n

Self-love improves your self-image.<\/strong> As you see yourself through the eyes of love, your perception of you gets better. I went from thinking I was fat to having a hot sexy body without losing a pound! Self-love changed my opinion of me and enabled me to build good self-esteem and strong confidence. Over time, the more you love yourself, the more you trust yourself. That helps you take more risks and to follow your dreams!<\/p>\n

Self-love can help you look and feel younger.<\/strong> The peace and joy that self-love brings can be like a tonic for your soul. That can affect how you carry yourself and your energy level. When my self-love got strong, I bumped into some former students who I hadn\u2019t seen in several years. They asked if I\u2019d found the Fountain of youth since I looked so much younger than when they\u2019d last seen me. No, I explained, I found me, and love the me I found. I no longer had the weight of feeling lousy about myself in my face. Strong self-love can make you glow, just like you do from romance.<\/p>\n

Self-love fuels the train out of DoorMatville by helping to break people pleaser habits.<\/strong> The more you love yourself, the less you\u2019ll tolerate poor behavior from others. The more you love yourself, the more boundaries you\u2019ll set. When my self-love got strong, the train out of DoorMatville was waiting for me. I got on it and never looked back! Self-love motivates protecting yourself and doing things that make you feel good. It makes you the most important person in your world so you\u2019ll please yourself first.<\/p>\n

Self-love leaves you with a lot more to give to others, for healthier reasons than buying acceptance<\/strong>. When you’re not putting all your energy into being a people pleaser so people will like you, you’re more motivated to help others from a place of kindness. And doing good for others nourishes self-love because it feels so good! People pleasing doesn’t! It leaves you feeling used, taken advantage of, etc. Self-love radiates out and back when you give of yourself.<\/p>\n

I encourage your to build self-love so you can experience the kind of joy I feel today. It\u2019s a lot more satisfying than jumping around to please people who don\u2019t necessarily value you or give you back what you need. Love yourself enough to be good to you! When you take the 31 Days of Self-Love Challeng<\/strong><\/a>e\u2014to do something kind for yourself for 31 days\u2014you begin to set the foundation for loving yourself for the rest of your life!
\n*********************<\/p>\n

Take the self-love challenge<\/strong><\/a> and get my book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways<\/a><\/strong> for free at http:\/\/howdoiloveme.com<\/a>. And you can post your loving acts HERE<\/a><\/strong> to reinforce your intention to love yourself. Read my 31 Days of Self-Love Posts HERE<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Please leave comments under my posts so we can stay connected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the holiday season upon us, everyone is out looking for gifts to give others. Yet it\u2019s also important to consider the gifts you can give YOU. The greatest give you can give yourself is yourself\u2014filled with self-love. Unfortunately, many people have a hard time giving this gift is hard and are more concerned with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[219,27],"class_list":["post-2392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-self-love-acceptance","tag-love-yoruself","tag-self-love"],"yoast_head":"\n10 Reasons to Love Yourself - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 Reasons to Love Yourself - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the holiday season upon us, everyone is out looking for gifts to give others. Yet it\u2019s also important to consider the gifts you can give YOU. The greatest give you can give yourself is yourself\u2014filled with self-love. Unfortunately, many people have a hard time giving this gift is hard and are more concerned with…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-09T17:01:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-21T03:23:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/files\/2011\/04\/HowDoILoveMeCover1-222x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daylle Deanna Schwartz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 Reasons to Love Yourself - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 Reasons to Love Yourself - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","og_description":"With the holiday season upon us, everyone is out looking for gifts to give others. Yet it\u2019s also important to consider the gifts you can give YOU. The greatest give you can give yourself is yourself\u2014filled with self-love. Unfortunately, many people have a hard time giving this gift is hard and are more concerned with…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html","og_site_name":"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","article_published_time":"2011-12-09T17:01:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-11-21T03:23:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/files\/2011\/04\/HowDoILoveMeCover1-222x300.jpg"}],"author":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html","name":"10 Reasons to Love Yourself - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/files\/2011\/04\/HowDoILoveMeCover1-222x300.jpg","datePublished":"2011-12-09T17:01:10+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-21T03:23:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/4250884f68a588907744baa491f9df35"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/files\/2011\/04\/HowDoILoveMeCover1-222x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/files\/2011\/04\/HowDoILoveMeCover1-222x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/12\/10-reasons-to-love-yourself.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 Reasons to Love Yourself"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/","name":"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Daylle Deanna Schwartz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/4250884f68a588907744baa491f9df35","name":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/83b\/83ba6e1423377712fe408a5fab971bfax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/83b\/83ba6e1423377712fe408a5fab971bfax96.jpg","caption":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz"},"description":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz is a speaker, self-empowerment counselor, best-selling author of 15 books, including Nice Girls Can Finish First (McGraw-Hill), All Men Are Jerks Until Proven Otherwise and founder of The Self-Love Movement\u2122 where she's giving away her 13th book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways, a She's appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, including Oprah, Howard Stern, and Good Morning America and has been quoted in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Marie Claire, and Men\u00b9s Health. After being a consummate People Pleaser who felt unworthy of getting her own needs met for many years, Daylle found a path of self-love that enabled her to build her self-esteem and reinvent herself into a dual career. She learned to get taken seriously without being overtly assertive when she became one of the first women to start an independent record label (on a dare!) and learned to play ball nicely and successfully in an industry dominated by men. To help independent musicians empower themselves, Daylle writes music business books for Billboard\/Random House, including the very popular Start & Run Your Own Record Labe and I Don't Need a Record Deal! Daylle's books have been translated into over 10 languages and are popular around the world. She speaks for colleges, organizations and corporations. Through her company, Project Self-Empowerment, Daylle creates programs and materials to help people empower themselves. One goal is to raise the money to self-publish her book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways and give it away for free in colleges and through organizations, to give thanks for all her blessings. Daylle uses her writing and speaking to help others find the kind of contentment and empowerment that she has.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/author\/dschwartz"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2392"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2395,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392\/revisions\/2395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}