What do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror?

Do you see the beautiful and radiant person that you are or do you focus on all the little imperfections that you dislike about yourself?

When you think about your life, do you center your attention on your accomplishments or shortcomings?

If you want to love yourself the way you are you need to focus on your achievements and everything you like about yourself.

Many times, I wished I could be someone else. A person, who in my eyes had a perfect life.

The Perfect Life

What can you do if you think that everyone around you has a more interesting, happy, exciting, easy, and fulfilling life than you do?

There are so many people that we believe have wonderful lives but when we get to know them a little bit more, we discover that they all had or have to struggle with their negative past experiences and emotions.

I created a list of 10 tips that will help you to love yourself the way you are.

10 Easy Ways to Love Yourself the Way You Are

1 – Read Memoirs and Autobiographies

My favorite way to keep in mind that nobody’s life is perfect is by reading or listening to memoirs or biographies.

The last memoirs I read are:

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Me by Elton John

Inside Out by Demi Moore

I was curious about how they experienced their lives from their point of view besides what we know about them through their work or the media.

It was interesting to read how Michelle Obama had to battle the little voice in her head telling her that she was not good enough. In Me, Elton John describes how he struggled with family, sexuality, and addiction. Demi Moore focused mostly on her dysfunctional relationship with her mother and how it shaped her life.

Reading about how others overcame obstacles and dealt with their emotional issues provides inspiration and insight on how we can do the same and love ourselves more.

2 – Make Yourself a Priority

Most women are raised to believe that they have to take care of others first.

We may drop everything when we perceive that friends or family need help. We may juggle our professional and personal life while neglecting our personal needs.

Even if we are exhausted we will make dinner, check our kids’ homework, and make sure everything is ready for the next day instead of asking for help.

Moreover, when we put the needs of others first, we are sending the  message that we are fine, we can take care of ourselves, and we don’t need any help.

However, not taking care of ourselves will result in stress, depression, anxiety, or illness.

It is very difficult to love ourselves when we feel overwhelmed and exhausted.

Don’t let the needs of others always be a priority.

3 – Take Care of Yourself

Once you are aware of how you treat yourself, make sure you spend some time taking care of yourself.

This could be getting to bed early, mindfully enjoying your favorite food, or doing something that makes you feel good.

Once you start taking care of yourself, others will be more respectful about your time.

Here are more self-care tips to be happy.

4- Cope with Social Media

Social media is wonderful to connect and communicate with others. However, continually looking at other people’s perfect pictures, success, and adventures inevitably makes our own life look uneventful and uninspiring.

Look at social media from a positive point of view. Nowadays with photo editing technology you could insert yourself in almost any picture and enlarge, change, or reduce any part of your body.

I remind myself that most of those perfect pictures have a lot of photo editing to make them look that way.

Enjoy social media and find inspiration while always keeping in mind everything there is to enjoy and love in your own life.

5 – Learn from Your Mistakes

Many times we think about our past and we regret reactions or decisions we have made.

We tend to think that if we had acted differently our life would be so much better now.

However the problem with this thinking is that we cannot change our past. I like to think about my past mistakes as learning experiences.

In addition, my most frequent regret is having said or not having said something. The perfect response usually comes to my mind once the conversation is over.

Of course, I can’t change the past, so I just congratulate myself for having noticed my mistake, erroneous reaction, or comment and make a mental note for next time. It is also helpful to write it down.

Instead of regretting your mistakes, think about them as learning experiences that will guide you in the right direction, next time.

6– Write a Journal

Writing in a journal is great to stop unproductive thought patterns.

We may obsess about looking or behaving in a certain way, which is not always possible.

In order to love yourself the way you are it’s important to keep positive thoughts about yourself. So when negative and repeated thoughts come to your mind, write them down in your journal so you get them out of your mind.

Here are more ideas on how writing can make you happy.

7 – Do Something that you Love

Do something that you enjoy and makes you feel good such as a hobby.

You will feel refreshed after spending some time doing something that you love and makes you happy. While enjoying an activity it is easy to love yourself the way you are.

Include some physical movement in your everyday life. Follow along a youtube video, go for a walk, or join an exercise group.

Exercise increases blood circulation and your body produces feel good neurotransmitters like serotonin that make you feel good.

My favorite activities to love myself are:

• cooking and experimenting with new recipes

• working in the garden by planting new seeds, pulling weeds, and observing the plants

• going for a walk with my dog

• doing yoga

Here are more tips on how to be happy by exercising our body.

8 – Spend Time with People who Love You

You have probably already experienced how different you feel depending on who you are interacting with.

Some people make you feel like a superhero while others make you feel like the most insignificant creature on earth.

Deliberately spend more time with people you enjoy and who make you feel good about yourself.

There are many different ways to look at life. Spend more time with people who have a positive outlook on life.

It is easier to love yourself if people around you see good qualities in you.

9 – Respect Your Ideas and Intuition

There are certain people who have a huge influence in our decisions.

For instance, parents, older siblings, or friends may have strong opinions about certain topics that may be contrary to our own thoughts about that issue.

I’ve heard many heated discussions about the pros and cons of investing in stocks, mutual funds, or just keeping your money in a savings account or CD. There aren’t any right or wrong options, it’s whatever you think is the best choice for you.

Furthermore, there are more personal decisions such as who will be a good partner for you, what type of work is best for you or where you should live.

In addition,  loving ourselves involves respecting our own opinion and making our own decisions. This will build confidence.

However, if you find out later that you made the wrong decision, at least you will be able to find out what misguided you and you will learn from that experience.

Here are more tips on how to trust your intuition for a happy life.

10 – Make Your Surroundings Remind You to Love Yourself

Your environment is a reflection of you.

Are the objects around you things that you love?

Sometimes we keep old photographs or objects that remind us of negative times of our past. Every time we see them, we are unconsciously reminded of that time or the person we were at that time.

Moreover, make sure that the spaces that you spend the most time in, remind you to love yourself.

In conclusion, I like to think of myself as a work in progress. There is always room for more kindness, compassion, and mindfulness within ourselves and others. Focusing on our positive traits helps us to love ourselves the way we are.

Which one is your favorite way to love yourself the way you are?

Let me know in the comments below.