Whether you are a man or a woman, it can be hard to remember to show yourself some love. We spend so much of our time as people trying to please other people and make them feel as good as possible but is this the same for us?
It seems that when it comes to self-love, it is even more challenging for men to find a way to love themselves. This may be because they don’t want to be seen as weak (because they have needs in the first place) or narcissistic because they are focusing on what they need.
No matter the reason why men need to try and love themselves more, we have put together some of the top tips that every man should be trying out.
Remember that you are worthy of love- just as you are
The first thing that you need to do is to take the time to remind yourself that you are worthy of love if you don’t think that you are someone who is loveable, you are deserving of all the good things in life.
If you keep these thoughts in your mind, then there is a good chance that you will start believing them, which means that you will seek out ways to make sure that it happens.
Surround yourself with good people and you will feel great
Whilst the very term self-love means that you should be focused on yourself, this doesn’t mean that you should be entirely alone. A key part of loving yourself is to ensure that you are surrounded by good people who make you feel good about yourself.
When you have a network of positive friends, you are going to mostly hear the great things in life, which means that you are going to feel even better about your place in the world. Not only this, but if there are times when you think negatively, you will have people to talk to and bring you back into a good place.
Seek out affection from those around you
From a very young age, Men learn that they might not get the same level of affection as women get as they grow up. This has the impact of making it the norm not to get any form of love as you get older.
Some men do learn that it is a basic human need to want to have affection from those closest to them, but there are, of course, others who do not learn this. They then go into their adult years not knowing how to ask for affection or how to enjoy it when it does come to them.
It is essential that men learn how to find affection from those who are willing to offer it to them and feel ready to accept that affection and enjoy it.
Then give out affection to those who you love
When a man learns just how great affection feels, they can then find a way to share it with other people. It might not always come naturally, but it is something that you can learn to do.
Another hurdle that can crop up is that it is not the” norm” for men to b affectionate. Therefore, any man who is open with this side of him could worry that they will be judged for behaving in that way.
An example of this is a man who is happy to be publicly affectionate with his partner; he could be deemed to be “under the thumb” or “a mummy’s boy”, which is not a positive thing to be labelled as.
Of course, this is not true. This man is none of these things; they are just someone who recognises how important other people are in their life and wants to show them that they really care.
You have to want it and need it
It is one thing knowing that you need to find a touch of self-love in your life, but it is another thing entirely actually to want or need it. Sure, recognising the importance of treating yourself in the best way possible is going to be helpful. But what if you genuinely believe in it?
Knowing that you want to look after yourself and that you want to show yourself, love is a surefire way to ensure that this happens. You don’t want to be all sloping shoulders about taking care of yourself; you want to make it your focus.
Stop focusing on what other people think
It is easy to get caught up in how other people see us and what they think of us as a person. But this is never the right approach to take. Of course, the way other people see you is going to be important to you (you can only pretend that you don’t listen to this type of information), but it should never be your focus.
Instead, you need to focus on what you think and feel about yourself. What your strengths are and what do you bring to the world? These are the essential things that you should use to be a representation of yourself as a person.
It isn’t always easy to do, but you can get there eventually. You will get to the stage where you may hear what other people say, but you can either choose to listen to it or move on and let them think whatever they want because you know the truth.
As you can see, self-love might not be something that comes naturally to us all, but that doesn’t mean that we should give up on the idea altogether. You just need to think about it in a whole new way.
Remind yourself of why you are a great person and surround yourself with positive people who really care about you. If you do this, you will find that self-love comes even more naturally to you and that you are reminded of just how great the world around you truly is.
