5 Signs You’re Falling in Love with Yourself

Sometimes when you’re growing up, you may find it’s hard to be yourself. To stand up for what you think is right —to be open, real and honest. Hey! Even as adults it’s hard. It’s really hard. But it does get easier. It gets easier when you finally stop trying to keep up. When you feel comfortable in your own skin. When your content with who you are as a person. 

Practicing and creating positive affirmations, for one can really help increase your self-esteem (shameless plug to my other post). Because our thoughts become our actions. And our actions turn into behavior, which then turns into change. And what happens after that? You start believing in yourself. You start falling in love with who you really are —weaknesses and all. Life will be better because who wants to go back to a feeling that only reinforces negativity and self-hatred. Because there are coping mechanisms that positive people use. There are also a few tell-tale signs that you’re making progress with loving YOU.

So I present The Five Signs You’re Falling in Love with Yourself.

1. You enjoy telling yourself positive affirmations every morning. At first, you put up those cute quotes around your room or in your notebooks but you think it’s cheesy and unnecessary. Maybe you were told to start looking in the mirror —telling yourself something great about you. Or, simply that you will have a great day today. But it feels foreign, uncomfortable, and a little over the top. The thing is, if you start doing this every day, sooner rather than later, you will actually love inspirational quotes. You’ll write them all over your notebooks, locker, and bedroom. When that starts to feel like second nature, you can just say to yourself in the shower, “Yeah, I am awesome! I’m going to do great in class today!” And not feel weird about it. It’s not forced. It feels good and you actually believe it. That’s when you are officially in the process of living your best positive life.

2. Let’s face it. Sometimes you have that one great friend, who you love to the moon and back but she always wants to hang out at the bowling alley, and you plain old stink at bowling and video games! Usually in the past, I had that long-time friend who wanted to hang out at the pool club during all the summer weekends. Our pool club had pools, duh, but diving boards, basketball courts, and tennis courts too. Oh my! So if you a mediocre swimmer, horrible at all sports, burn easily, and oh wait yes, being uncomfortable in a bathing suit, then why would you want to go? Because you want to hang out with your friends of course! So once you begin to go where you want, to enjoy the company of your friends and family members, you’re stepping outside of your comfort zone. And that’s how you grow. It’s all about small steps that add up big time. And now, you’re making strides!

3. Comparing ourselves is the thief of joy. So when you become comfortable with yourself without comparing every little thing to the people are you, you are officially changing! Jealousy and envy are normal — especially in middle to high school. Because it’s normal to want a different body, different grade or different hair. Maybe you wish you were more athletic —the list goes on. But stop for one minute. Let the thoughts pass and not cripple you. Because that’s just it. They are merely thoughts that cross everyone’s mind at different times. Because you are blessed to be alive —to be breathing.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell yourself, even though I don’t have the thing that he or she has, that I am grateful that my life has this. When you can appreciate another human for just being another human who happens to have “a more ideal life” at the minute and give that old friend a compliment, such as, she’s an awesome tennis player or she looks great in that swim suit! When you become naturally happy for others because you have inner peace in your head and your life, you’re on way to all that self-love, I promise!

4. Sometimes, we don’t make the best choices. We don’t hang out with the right people. We want to fit in and sometimes that means taking the wrong path. But that’s OK. Life is a journey. And along that journey, we make mistakes. But we also learn. Because that’s how you grow. So whatever your reason was for hanging out with the meaner popular girls, that doesn’t have to define you. Maybe you started hanging out with that rude boy because he’s really cute. It’s called a crush for a reason.

Perhaps you borrowed money (probably from your parents) to buy a brand-new outfit from the coolest store at the mall. But it’s itchy and you can’t stand what it looks like on you. You can’t stand what you feel like when you look in the mirror. Stop right here! Do not go any further! Because that sort of thing happens all the time. It’s normal to have feelings of doubt when you are figuring out who you are —no matter your age. The thing is, you can always correct your wrongs. You can always come back and become your true authentic self. And when you become a positive person —who knows how worthy you truly are, —well, that’s when you bring value to any class you’re in, to any group of friends you have. The point here is, your time is precious. So spend it wisely. You are on your way to becoming a positive self-loving guru. LOL.

5. And finally, the holy grail of self-love —self-care. You have to care of yourself! You have to listen to your mind, body, and soul and act on what those 3 important components are telling you to embrace. Do what you want while at the same time, try not to push yourself. Because you’ll know when enough is enough. Listen to your body, relax your mind and set your soul on fire. So the next time you’re out and about with a group of friends signing up for an after-school activity, pick the one you like. Pick something because it’s what YOU want to do and not because someone else is. You don’t even have to be the best at that activity. Because life is mostly just showing up. And that’s how you grow. That’s how you set your soul on fire. That’s how you fall in love with yourself.

Because no one else has to lay in your bed at night and sit with your choices besides you. So make your time on this earth count. Try new things, make new friends, read a new book, and eat new food. You may find out that life is beautiful. And when that happens, you officially found self-love!