“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” ~Jean Shinoda Bolen

Why Is Self-Love Important? Self-love is something that confuses a lot of people – and that could be why you may be hesitant to use that term. In fact, you may be hesitant to associate with anything that has to do with what you may think self-love really is. Maybe, like a lot of people, you believe it is all about being selfish and self-centered.

Why It’s So Important That You Love Yourself

What if you were to learn that there is a healthy way to be a little bit selfish and self-centered without being that way at the expense of others? Those who are not trying to take advantage of you that is. The bottom line is that self-love is about you acknowledging that you matter just as everyone else matters and that you live that truth daily. Let’s now take a look at 5 reasons why self-love is important.

1. It Motivates You To Be Healthy

If you don’t love yourself, you will indulge in unhealthy habits and coping mechanisms such as eating junk food, laying around all day, and not being productive in any way at all. Self-love motivates you to eat healthy food, exercise, and to take care of your health.

2. You Set Boundaries

You want all of your relationships to be healthy, and that means that you shouldn’t allow others to walk on you. Sure, you have to bend and make compromises, but at the same time, don’t do it at your expense. Set those boundaries and make it clear what those boundaries are. That is how you show yourself love and respect.

3. It Increases You Being Successful

A lack of self-love can easily cause your career to go south, or if you set up a business, it won’t succeed. Self-love increases your chance of succeeding. That is because you know you matter and you are worthy of being successful. Therefore you will be motivated to become successful as well. And if you are motivated, chances are you will achieve great things.

4. You Remove Toxic Relationships

This goes to point #2. But at the same time, those who have been taking advantage of you and have shown you that they don’t care about you. Once you show yourself some self-love, toxic relationships begin to fall away. Sure, it may hurt when those who you thought were your friends end up removing themselves from your life. However, you will see that it was for the best because you deserve better than those people.

5. Quiets Down That Critical Voice

Oh, you know that voice, the one that says “you are not good enough or worthy enough.” When you express self-love and practice it, you will know how to tame that critical voice that tells so many lies. Because that is what it does and while you are loving yourself, you will easily see that. And you will be able to tame that critical voice easily.

Those are the 5 key reasons why it is important to love yourself, and again, a little bit of healthy selfishness is beneficial. Don’t be afraid to express it.