I like the quote from Prentis Hemphill, “Boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me simultaneously.” That quote encompasses one of the boundaries I try to live out: the boundary of self-love.
Self-love is a huge key to professional and personal success!
Self-love is not the same thing as self-care. Self-care is all about taking care of yourself physically, or maybe even mentally or spiritually. Self-love is all about taking care of yourself emotionally.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any great personal stories or examples of self-love. It’s something I still struggle with. But it’s something I’m working really, really hard at.
In an Instagram-driven world with carefully curated feeds and Photoshopped models, it’s often hard to develop self-love. Self-love is all about loving yourself unapologetically, and that can be hard to do when you get caught up in comparing yourself to others.
Too often we look in the mirror and see ourselves as something ugly. We downgrade ourselves to less than what we really are. I’m guilty of doing that all the time!
But I’m working on it. A big part of getting better at self-love is getting rid of the people in your life that tear you down and surrounding yourself with a support system composed of people that build you up. That support system is a requirement to work on self-love! I’m lucky to have a support system of people that build me up.
Do you downgrade yourself too? Should you be working on your self-love? You need to intentionally build a support system. Improving your self-love will make you a better entrepreneur, a better friend, and a better person.