“You carry so much love in your heart, give some to yourself”

#SelfLove is a wonderful thing and it is great that we are actually thinking and talking about this finally!. Here is an article by Prerna Arora from team Marching Sheep on Self Love.

Please share your views in the comment box if you enjoy reading this article.

“Self-love, self-respect, self-worth: There’s a reason they all start with ‘self.’ You can’t find them in anyone else.”

Self Love is a wonderful thingand it is great that we are actually thinking and talking about this finally!

But what does self love actually mean and are we applying it in our professional lives… and if yes, then how?

Self-care comes in many different forms because each one of us sees care differently. Some may believe self-care is sleeping for the weekend; others may see self-care as a day at the spa or a day painting.

Self love at work can be defined as a series of making your own choices, prioritizing yourself, standing up for yourself, fulfilling your commitments, making a conscious effort for your growth every single day and never fear to share your opinion or ideas.

We usually struggle with sharing our accomplishments with our colleagues and other professional network because we do not want to be seen as boastful, arrogant, or as a person who is in need of praise.Self-love on the contrary makes us proud to share our achievements, our accomplishments, our progress without fear of what other people might think.

Why self love is important in workplace?

There are various benefits associated with the strong sense of self worth.

1. Self love makes you more confident in your abilities. Self love helps you recognize that you are worthy and good enough no matter what. It gives you the confidence to open the doors you were afraid to open earlier, be it starting a new business, taking up a new challenging project or explore a career change.

2.Self love helps reduce workplace stress and also helps us stop procrastinating. People with high self-esteem demonstrate extraordinary perseverance in succeeding in an activity they are passionate about. It helps you to take the failures positively and not give up.It will help you speak up for your needs and taking a stand for yourself whenever it starts affecting you.

3. Recognizing self-worth can increase your engagement at work, leading to higher productivity and improved relationships with coworkers. Employees who value their worth tend to experience better focus and can find work more fulfilling. Your sense of self-worth helps you to trust your own judgment and make better decisions, which are important leadership qualities that can help you advance in your career.

4. Self love makes you less concerned about other’s opinion about you. You will care less about what others think about you and more about what you can contribute and deliver and hence it will help you focus more on your betterment.

How to practice self love at work

1. Speak to yourself and define your value: You first have to recognize your worth. If you’re in a place today where you don’t love yourself, it’s hard to do that instantly. It is like building a muscle, the process will take time so why not start with today. Allow love to flow through you as often as possible. Focus on what you love about yourself. Focus on what you appreciate about yourself. Simply, adjust your body to positive emotions by finding as many things to love about yourself.Each morning, stand in front of the mirror and reinforce your positive qualities to yourself

2Don’t compare yourself: Just remember this; comparison is lethal for self love. We usually compare our flaws with someone else’s qualities and that starts affecting our mental and emotional health negatively. When we focus on other people, we lose the time which we can invest in ourselves. We don’t grow green grass by focusing on our neighbor’s garden; we do it by nurturing our own. So, instead of wasting time comparing your path to someone else’s, spend it investing, creating, and caring for your own.

3. Build positive affirmations: Affirmations are, essentially, self-fulfilling compliments. Others may praise us, but to build genuine self-love, we need to learn to praise ourselves. Daily self love affirmations are an amazing tool to help you on your journey of self love.  Being able to embrace our strengths and goodness without others’ approval is the first step towards fearless self-love, which will contribute to a more confident state of being at work.

The negative self talk has to stop first! If you tell yourself every single day that you are beautiful, strong and worthy, you will eventually start to believe that. 

4. Remember your successes and don’t forget to share it:We all have our own strengths and weakness, our success and failures as well. But I think it is in our nature to remember all the negative things and not the positive one. Choose to forgive yourself when things don’t go as planned. Remember it is ok to not to be perfect, to fail, to get stumped, to not perform well sometimes, it is all OK! And yes do not forget to celebrate your accomplishments.

5. Drop toxic people: There is this famous quote from Jim Rohn: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” This perfectly fits here. You need to be really cautious about the people surrounding you. Be picky about the people you spend time with. You need to check whether they inspire you, encourage you,enable you, and fill you in.

6. Adapt healthy habits: Create habits that cheer up your body emotionally, mentally and physically. Start paying attention to minor details like your eating habits, your workout schedule, how you spend your free time. The way could be different like sleeping for the weekend, shopping, playing your favorite game etc.  Whatever the way is, it is just about the contentment.Keep asking yourself-what makes ‘me’ happy and am I doing enough of it?

Always remember to ‘BE CONFIDENT’:

B: Be your own role model.

E: Express Yourself.

C: Challenge Yourself

O: Only your opinion about you matter.

N: No more negative self talk.

F: Forgive your mistakes.

I: I am awesome.

D: Do not waste your energy in comparison.

E: Excellence not perfection.

N: No part of you should be left behind.

T: Talents: Discover your talents and use them.

You are the incharge of your choices and hence you are solely responsible for the life you make for yourself. So start it today, show some love towards yourself and see the results.