It’s Valentine’s Day! Shops get decorated with red and pink cut-out hearts, restaurants advertise three-course meal deals, and florists make a fortune. Valentine’s Day is known to be the one day a year where you get to go all out to celebrate love and friendship with the people closest to you.

You’re probably not new to this. Some years, you may have spent them with a partner. Perhaps in other years, you did something fun and spontaneous with your friends, or maybe even nothing at all. Other times, you may have preferred to celebrate Anti-Valentine’s Day instead. 

It goes without saying that although Valentine’s is only one day a year,  toasting to our relationships is something that should happen all the time. Acknowledging and celebrating the feeling of having a place in the world, of being supported and cherished by others is certainly an important thing to do on the daily. But the 14th of February is the one time you’re able to turn it into an embellished occasion. 

But it’s come to our attention that perhaps the tradition of what Valentine’s Day has become tends to forget about celebrating love from the one person that truly matters the most: yourself. 

Yes, some might find it a bit cheesy. But we find self love to be something that should be taken into account equally if not more than taking love from other people.

What is self love?

So what is self love? 

The goal of engaging in self love practices certainly goes beyond feeling good with ourselves. Self love is actually one of the most essential elements that help build a strong base for your emotional, psychological and spiritual growth. It reinforces the process of accepting our weaknesses, praising our strengths, find our own personal goals and purposes, and have compassion for ourselves as well as for other people. 

So what exactly does this mean? What is self love for?

As it turns out, self love is one of the key ingredients for feeling fulfilled in your life.

...And what’s the point of feeling fulfilled with oneself?

Well, that’s where the magic is. The point is to feel at peace every day, without feeling like you’re missing something to feel complete. And when you can accomplish this, you get a lot closer to feeling true happiness.

You will no longer feel like you have to go out of your way to feel accomplished - you will simply embrace what you have going for yourself. But most importantly: you will become increasingly conscious and mindful of choosing relationships, habits, and even material items that you are sure will only contribute to enhancing your emotional and physical wellbeing. Slowly, you’ll start to realize that every element that makes up your life is there for a good reason, and can only develop towards positivity. 

With self love, the pressure we put on ourselves to be ‘perfect’, to do the ‘right thing’, or look for the ‘next best thing’ will be replaced by thoughts that are intended towards making us happy and facing life with a positive attitude.

For this Valentine’s Day, we wanted to make sure to remind you to place yourself first. Take a moment to appreciate and be thankful for every piece of you, reevaluate the choices and factors you think are bringing you down, and start creating a joyous relationship with yourself.

Tips for Self Love

Want to know our take on love yourself practices? We came up with a list of soulful, meaningful tips for self love you should kick off this Valentine’s Day on their way to become everyday habits.

1. Embrace Your Emotions

There is no such thing as telling yourself “I shouldn’t be feeling like this”. The human brain can’t control what or at which degree emotions are felt, so numbing your feelings are only going to make them accumulate inside you. A very important self love practice is to accept and be honest with your emotions, especially if they are affecting you in a  negative way. Take time to question why you are feeling them, understand how they are affecting you, and make the necessary measures to deal with them in a healthy way. There are many ways in which you can manage your emotions - from going to a psychologist to hitting the gym, to simply practice mindful breathing through them.

Essential oils are particularly powerful tools that can help you get in touch with your emotions naturally. The Inner Balance Essential Pack can is useful for reducing negative emotions, and encouraging you to become grounded by connecting mind, body and spirit. If you’re looking for a practical, on-the-go solution, roll-on natural perfumes are the way to go. Whether they help work on your emotional intelligence, achieving mental clarity and or igniting joyfulness, they all help uplift your spirit in times when you need them the most. 

2. Self love Affirmations

It’s simple. Repetition makes a difference. The more you direct positivity and love towards yourself, the more you’ll build self-confidence, self-worth and feel motivated to accomplish your goals and desires. Self love affirmations have the power to change the way you look at the problems and challenges you are facing at the moment, and encourage you to surpass them for your own good, as well as for the people you love. 

To be honest, it can be tough to start daily self love affirmations - especially if you’re struggling to believe them in the first place. But you know the saying “fake it ‘till you make it”. You can trust that eventually, you will mean these affirmations and see how positive results unravel before your eyes. 

If you need a little extra help, you know you can always rely on essential oils for additional support. Love Affair is packed with oils that help create a calm, comfortable environment that’s ideal for giving you the confidence to shower yourself with confidence-boosting words of self love. 

3. Rediscover Fun

One of the things that can create the most stress in our lives is taking ourselves too seriously. Carmen Foon explains it well - we tend to worry too much about what other people think of us, whether there’s room for misinterpretation for our actions if the decisions that we take are the right ones...the list is endless. 

But do you remember what it was like to enjoy life as a child? Unpreoccupied about other people’s judgments? Only concerned about how much fun you were going to have that day?

Of course, as adults, we're faced with completely different responsibilities and evidently biological differences in the brain and psyche that make it difficult to go back to that place. But making at least a little bit of room for play in our lives is incredibly important to keep us in a good mood, and with a positive attitude. Think about it this way, you’re not on this planet to have a bad time! Bad times and unfortunate circumstances are bound to happen because that’s just how life is. But life is also fun. It’s a gift! Make sure to prioritize looking for pleasure in seeing your friends, discovering new hobbies, learning a new skill, and exploring the world. Awaken the child in you!

There are many more love yourself practices that will help you get to where you want to be. We hope your journey towards answering the question of "what is self love" is pleasurable. Experiencing the benefits of self love starts today and continues for the rest of your life. Let us know if you’re interested in knowing more self love tips and practices, or help us by commenting on what your favourite self love exercises are. Happy Valentine’s Day!