Practice Self-Love on Valentine’s Day

Valentines day, a day filled with red hearts and “I love you’s” everywhere you look. A day filled with love and passion. But Valentine’s Day isn’t just about showing love to others, it’s about loving yourself! In today’s world, a lot of people with diseases and addictions find themselves battling them alone. Sometimes even crafted into hidden wars no one sees like, for example, eating disorders. Here are some ways you can practice self-love on Valentine’s Day and remind yourself how beautiful and wonderfully made you are.

The Importance of Self-Love

As a center for eating disorders, we meet many people who struggle with body image. Eating disorders are complex and potentially life threatening illnesses that cannot only affect a person's mental health but physical health as well.

They do not discriminate, and may affect anyone regardless of age, weight, shape, gender, or race. Even outside of these disorders, society influences us to appear a certain way, creating internal struggles within a majority of individuals and the acceptance of their own body.

In honor of those who either have eating disorders or other issues related to body image, we are changing the name and the game. We’re proclaiming this Valentine’s Day to be a self-love day! We want you to see yourself on Valentine’s Day, take yourself out or stay in for a good time.

It’s time to look in the mirror and love who YOU are and what YOU have. Appreciate your body for what it does for you each day. Love your mind for all that it does too, even when you’re sleeping.

Body image is defined as, “How we think and feel about ourselves physically, and how we believe others see us”. So it starts with how YOU see yourself. So see yourself as beautiful and exceptional AS YOU ARE.

Body positivity starts with appreciating and loving yourself - so, will you promise me something? Make yourself a priority and make time for things that are important to us. If you take the time to care for your body and mind, not only will you look and feel great, but your self confidence will be shooting through the roof!

How To Love Yourself On Valentine’s Day

Healthy boundaries allow us to build who and what we are. They allow us to focus on the good, without falling out to the bad. Healthy boundaries are the type of boundaries that allow your mental and emotional health to remain stable and strong.

The journey of recovery, and fighting each day to keep going is a long road with lots of obstacles. But what we often seem to forget is who we are doing it for. One could say they are doing it for their family or their significant other. But truthfully, you are doing it for YOU.

You are fighting each day, You are not giving up, You are making the changes you want to see. So this year, instead of worrying about who will be your valentine, be a Valentine to yourself!

And to help kickstart the month, here are 8 simple ways to treat yourself on Valentine’s Day, and we challenge you to do at least 5 of them!

Start each day by looking at yourself in the mirror and saying something positive. This could be one thing that you’ve accomplished, One compliment, or just that today will be a great day!
Practice self-care, which is proven to boost serotonin levels or also known as the happy hormone!! Your body is your temple, and the best way to love yourself is by making sure that you take care of it and learning to love the skin that you are in!
Each success is a win, big or small! Celebrate each one, and take that victory! You are working hard, you are getting up everyday, and you deserve to treat yourself!
Be patient, success doesn’t happen overnight, but little by little things will start to fall into place.
Express yourself! Get creative and do something fun or out of your comfort zone, let your natural self show! This could be something as simple as painting or dancing, and the best part about it, there’s no way to fail or do it wrong!!
Find your happy place. There are times where stress often sneaks up on us, and overwhelms us, and drowns us in dark holes. Find a happy place, and whenever you are starting to doubt yourself or you feel overwhelmed, think of your happy place and mentally take yourself there!
Treat others how you would want to be treated. Show some love and respect for the people around you whether it’s someone you know or a stranger passing by, because it won’t only make the other person feel good, but it’ll make you feel good too!
Be kind to yourself. This is a big one. We only have one body, for one life. Know that you are doing the best you can each and every day. If you made a mistake, or you are just having a day that feels like the world is a little heavier, that’s fine! You are human. You’re not superwoman. You’re not Superman. You are human, and that’s the strongest superpower. If you ever feel embarrassed or ashamed or you made a mistake, don’t think of it as a problem or something to weigh you down, think of it as a lesson and learn something from it!

We challenge you to choose at least 5 ways to practice self-love on Valentine’s Day. Applying any combination of these self-care tips will make you feel rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to take on the world! Let’s do this together, and spread the love with every step we take!

Do You Need Eating Disorder Treatment

Eating disorders are complex conditions that require professional, comprehensive care. If you or someone you know is showing signs of an eating disorder or has one and hasn’t received help, don’t wait any longer.