Self-Love: Treat yourself this Christmas with these Self-Love tips

Christmas is a time to spend precious moments with your loved ones and celebrate the most wonderful time of the year. You end each year with kindness and generosity, a quality expressed through sharing gifts, spreading cheer, and giving love to your family and friends. But one thing you mustn't forget this Christmas (or in any time of your life) is yourself.

I sometimes feel that during this holiday, we stress so much about giving to others that we get lost and forget ourselves. Self-love is perhaps the greatest form of love anyone can ever have and, personally, I believe it reflects the love you give to others. The more time and adoration you treat yourself with, the more you'll be able to do the same for others.

With the burdening pressures and obstacles of society and interpersonal relationships, I think that loving yourself is a challenging goal to achieve. Luckily for you, I've compiled a list to help with this journey. I'm no expert, but these are some of the things that I'd occasional do if I felt like I didn't give myself a little lovin'. For me, they provide a new and optimistic outlook on life - they might do the same for you!

The Coffee of Contemplation

Every morning, after eating my breakfast I make myself a cup of coffee, step outside to the garden, and drink it as I bathe myself in the morning weather. I don't have my phone with me, not even a book - I just sit, drink, and let all my thoughts simply dance and float as time moves.

I like to consider this a form of meditation because you're just being in the moment. A lot of stress and anxiety comes from worrying thoughts about the past, future, or stuff going on in our daily lives. Rather than contemplating about the negative aspects of your life, try observing everything around you. For me, there's a few trees in my back garden and, living in Florida, we get a lot of lizards which I like to just watch scurry around or do a weird mating dance.

When you wake up in the morning, cook yourself a nice breakfast and make yourself a cuppa and sit outside. Listen to the cars, watch the birds, enjoy nature. Enjoy this peaceful moment to yourself.

Curl up with a Book

There's nothing more relaxing than indulging yourself in a good book. This is something I do as much as I can - when I'm waiting in the car for my sister at school, during a road trip to the shops, or before going to bed. Getting lost in the stories will make us forget about everything, ourselves, and the world around us and pulls us into a whole new dimension.

To help you get into this habit, set a goal. Since it's almost the end of the year, pledge yourself to finish at least ten books by the end of December; make it three, four, fifteen - whichever you feel comfortable with.

Free your creative prowess

Expressing yourself in a healthy and creative way is such a cathartic experience. When I'm feeling particularly stressed, I like to let out my worries through writing. If you're a regular reader on my blog, you'll notice I write poetry - it's my creative way to express myself.

Whether it's painting, drawing, writing, photography, fashion, or maybe even science or coding - free yourself with creativity. Through these creative pursuits, perhaps you might discover something about yourself you didn't know about, maybe even discover that you have a genuine talent or passion in something...

FRIYAY SPA DAY!

I've recently finished my finals week, so I've been treating myself with what I like to call "Friyay Spa Day" where I prepare a feast for one and pamper myself with baths, facials, a glass of water (because y'all need to stay hydrated), and some Netflix and chill.

Fill up your tub, get some scented candles going and a bath bomb ready to fizz it up. Get a book or your computer/phone with Netflix and some snacks and drinks. Mask up your face and sink into the bath - unwind and enjoy.

Play dress-ups

This is probably one of my favorite self-love moments - DRESS-UP! Creating new fashion looks is what I love to do, mixing and matching different textures, patterns and styles and playing with a bunch of accessories. Most of the fashion look-books I curate are results of these fashion experimentations - maybe you could create one too!

Try out some styles you've never worn before, go thrift shopping and find bold garments to create avant-garde looks; organize a fashion show for your friends or family. With Christmas just round the corner, do something Christmas themed! Maybe you could design and make your own clothes from scratch if you wanted to.

Looking at yourself in all these styles and clothes that you love and then showing them off in look-books and self-organized fashion shows will surely boost your confidence and make you fall in love with yourself.

Learn something new

Nothing is more rewarding than achieving a goal; it improves productivity and makes you feel accomplished. Before this year ends, try learning something new. Try learning a language, learn how to code, sculpt, make origami. For me, I'm learning the piano. So far, I've learned to play some of my favorite piano pieces such as Debussy's "Clair de Lune" and the classic "River Flows in You" by Yiruma.

Sign up to a class, or teach yourself through books or YouTube (which is how I learned to play the piano lol). Remember to take baby steps and set goals: for example, you could promise yourself to learn all the basic vocabulary of Spanish in three days, or you could learn how to play the first part of Für Elise by the end of this week. Trying new things enriches and improves your mind - plus with all these new skills you're learning, you're gonna look cool and amazing.

And this is my list of self-love activities you could try this Christmas. These are things that I personally do and that works for me; some of them may not work for you, some of them might do. All in all, it's not up to me to tell you how to love yourself so go out there and find your path, live and enjoy your life. 💛

Have a great holiday!

All the best,