5 Ways To Love Yourself

Being a single parent has moments of highs and lows just like any other journey in life, but if there is one thing I’ve learned, it is that I have to think about myself just as much as my child or I will lose sight of who I am as a person in this entire process. Our needs are important too and the better we take care of ourselves, the better equipped we are to take care of our children.

1)     Wake up 15 minutes or more before your kids. When you wake up in the morning, before checking Facebook or checking in with your text messages, check in with yourself.  Do a few stretches in bed to loosen up your muscles, sit up and say a prayer for your day.  Take those 15 minutes (or more) before your kids wake up to start the day in peace and calmness. Gain perspective before you rush about your routine.

2)     Drive to work in silence.  It is really easy to fill our day with noise to drown our how we are feeling or to move about a routine with fun and enjoyment.  Noise and fun are great, but it is important for us to continue to learn about ourselves.  The drive to work with an empty car is a great time to really think about situations, emotions or issues we may be dealing with but are too busy to confront.

3)     Give yourself a gift.  Budgets may be tight and the idea of shopping for us is last on our list.  Treat yourself to one thing per week that is for you and only you.  It doesn’t have to cost money.  It can be a peaceful walk on your lunch break, a hot steamy towel over your face for a quick beauty treatment, eating the last cookie in the cookie jar.  Little perks to yourself send messages that you are worth it.

4)     Make a decision to realize your worth.  You put forth extreme effort in raising your kids and doing that all by yourself! That’s a huge undertaking and you are doing it.  Every single day! Take time each day to remind yourself of that.  Even if you don’t believe yourself in the beginning, keep saying, “I am an important person and of great worth. I matter.”

5)     Walk away from toxic relationships.  Whether those are romantic or platonic, keep people away who are dragging you down and are negative. To be a positive person you need to be around positive people. It may hurt initially, but after time you will be better for losing the negative baggage. Negative people only know how to be negative. Positive people can be the game changers for you and how you perceive life and yourself.