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The pressures of the world we live in coupled with societal expectations often make it difficult for one to focus on one’s self.
In many instances, you may find yourself surrounded by supportive and loving family, friends and positive social groups but struggle with giving yourself adequate love and compassion.
This may lead to a downward spiral of mental health issues and can make a person end up making bad life choices. Before loving anyone else, you need to love yourself!
Here’s why:
It sets the foundation for our relationship with ourselves — when we practice self-love, we accept ourselves for who we are and recognize our worth, which has a healthy impact on our self-esteem, shares Starmed Healthcare a community-focused, care centre and family medicine practice.
Self-love also encourages us to take care of ourselves — both physically and emotionally and helps to protect us from external influences that might diminish our self-worth.
Feeling good about yourself allows you to be more confident and make healthier decisions, both in your personal and professional lives, adds the aforementioned publication.
Increased self-esteem — self-love is bound up with self-esteem which is vital for good mental health. Self-esteem is all about your overall sense of self-worth.
It’s about how much you like or appreciate all the little things that make you unique. We can all be critical of ourselves from time to time. But if you have low self-esteem, it can weigh you down and have a detrimental impact on your mental health.
Lowers anxiety — when we feel good about ourselves, we’re less vulnerable to anxiety. Studies suggest that a healthy sense of self-esteem may act as a buffer to anxiety.
That’s because when our self-esteem is higher, we tend to release less of the stress hormone cortisol into our bloodstream, adds the aforementioned publication.
Lower stress — modern life is stressful. But it’s important to learn to manage it. Reducing stress in your life is a great way to show yourself compassion.
The constant practicing of self-love yields the benefits of lower stress levels, adds My Online Therapy.My Online Therapy is a site that provides virtual therapy sessions and counsel.
(Source: www.bona.co.za)
Online Reporter