How To Overcome Self-Loathing And Cultivate Self-Love
Have you ever had a day where you look in the mirror and don’t like the person you see staring back at you? We’ve all been there before.
Everyone goes through both good and bad days. But it’s important to remember that the bad days don’t define you. Those thoughts, behaviors, actions, and emotions that you experience on a bad day aren’t the truth.
Cultivating self-love is extremely important. Self-loathing can affect your overall mental health and wellness negatively. The first step towards getting over these feelings is to recognize the signs and symptoms to better understand what might be causing these feelings in the first place.
Understanding Self-Loathing
Self-loathing is the feeling of criticism or hatred that someone experiences towards themselves. It involves feeling like you’re not good enough, that bad things keep happening to you for a reason, and that you’re undeserving of love. Self-loathing is believed to be caused by past trauma, negative life experiences, and the pressures of society. Common signs or symptoms include feeling worthless, guilty, and doubting oneself.
Challenge Negative Self-Talk
Since self-loathing entails a lot of negative self-talk, it’s important to identify any harmful self-beliefs or thought patterns so that you can start to challenge them. Here are a few of the different strategies for replacing self-critical thoughts so that you can work towards self-compassion and befriending the different parts of yourself.
Self-Kindness
Talk to yourself as you’d talk to a friend. You would never say half of the things that you say to yourself to a friend, so show yourself the same kindness.
Mindfulness Practices
A lot of self-loathing stems from thinking about past actions and judging yourself for them. Practicing mindfulness can help keep you grounded and living in the present moment. Mindfulness techniques like meditation can help you stay in the here and now so that you’re a lot less judgmental.
Self-Compassion Exercises
Self-compassion exercises like repeating a positive mantra or affirmation, journaling, and practicing self-care can help you work towards showing yourself more compassion on a regular basis.
Build a Supportive Network
Self-loathing can make you feel like you’re not worthy of friendships or love. By withdrawing or isolating yourself, these feelings won’t change. It’s important to build and maintain a network of friends and family so that you can surround yourself with more positivity and support.
Professional help is recommended to address any deep-rooted issues. A therapist will be able to help you work through any signs or symptoms and work towards developing a sense of self-love.
Engage in Self-Care and Personal Growth
There are ways for you to work on practicing self-compassion and self-love on your own terms. You can implement these self-care practices each and every day to get started on a journey towards self-acceptance.
You can help yourself feel better from the inside out. Your overall mental health and wellness includes your emotional, mental, physical, and psychological states. This is why it’s extremely important to fuel your body from the inside out so that it can function to the best of its ability day in and day out. Your self-care routine may look different from a friend or family member, but you can start with activities like eating a healthy and well-balanced diet, moving your body, practicing relaxation techniques, and participating in activities or hobbies that you enjoy.
What’s Next?
The journey towards self-acceptance won’t happen overnight. You may continue to have both good and bad days, but your hard work and determination won’t go to waste. Try to be patient and persistent in working towards accepting and loving yourself; when you reach that point, your efforts will be well worth it. Reach out to learn more about therapy for young adults and how we can help you get started on a path towards healing and acceptance.
