We’re Celebrating Self-Love Season This February

It’s February, which means the signs of Valentine’s Day are everywhere. And while we don’t have anything against celebrating love with that special someone, we think this season should be about way more than just that.

So, we’re channeling our inner Lizzo and focusing on self-love this February, and we hope you’ll do the same. While the COVID-19 pandemic has been tough, it’s given us all lots of time to reflect on our lives and ourselves, and now is a great time to take inventory and celebrate all that introspection.

In this post, we’ll share a few of our favorite tips for expressing self-love, and a few cozy, easy rituals you can incorporate into your daily life.

Let’s dive in.

Let’s Talk About (Self) Love, Baby

If you’re a romantic at heart, it’s easy to spend most of your life sending love out. We love our partners, our spouses, our kids, our parents, our friends - EVERYONE. And because we love these people, we go out of our way to do everything we can to make them happy and comfortable.

No shade here - we all do it.

Eventually, though, that constant output can get a little tiring, and many of us wind up feeling burnt-out and tired.

Fortunately, the solution is easy: we focus on self-love first and foremost, so we have the foundation and fuel to give love to the people around us. In addition to making us more capable of love and generosity, self-love helps us be healthier.

Here are a few facts to chew on:

• Research has shown that self-compassion can help people make better health decisions. Translation? The more you love yourself, the easier it will be to meet that health goal or kick that habit.
• Studies suggest that people with ample self-compassion are happier, and have lower rates of depression and anxiety.
  
  
• Self-compassion makes people less likely to procrastinate, which means more energy to crush your goals.
  
  
• Self-love is one of the biggest foundations for resilience. According to a study published in the journal Psychological Science, people who speak to themselves compassionately can bounce back after difficult experiences faster than people who relate to themselves with criticism.
  
  

While learning to love yourself is a process, it’s a skill that will benefit you now and for the rest of your life.

5 Tips to Foster Self-Love

So, back to channeling that inner Lizzo. We all want to be such bada$$ self-love warriors, right, but how do we get there?

Here are a few fast tips:

1. Focus on Self-Care, First

Self-care = self-love. To fill your cup, take care of your body and mind. Prioritize sleep each night, attend a yoga class, go for a walk outside, and nourish your body with healthy food and drinks.

Make sure you’re setting aside time each day for fun, adventure, and things that make you feel nourished from the inside out. Here are a few additional self-care tips to try.

2. Learn to Empathize With Yourself

When a beloved friend comes to you with a problem or a struggle, you act like a human warm blanket, right? We KNOW you do! That’s what friendship is. Because you’re human, though, chances are you aren’t as generous with yourself when you’re facing a challenge.

If we want to make self-love a habit, though, we have to practice self-empathy. To put this simply: talk to yourself the way you’d talk to a struggling friend or a scared kid. When we give ourselves the grace to be human, it’s easier to make self-love a lasting habit.

3. Say it With Us: all Emotions are Okay

It’s easy to punish ourselves for what we see as “bad” emotions. We “shouldn’t” feel jealous, we “shouldn’t” feel sad, etc. Here’s a universal truth, though: whatever we resist, persists.

The fastest way to navigate difficult emotions is to accept them and give them space to exist. When we stop blaming ourselves for difficult feelings or trying to talk ourselves out of them, we can move through these situations much more rapidly.

4. Nurture Yourself

We all love a little treat now and then! To make sure you’re giving yourself a special break now and again, nurture yourself with things that taste great and make you feel good.

Instead of doing a face dive into a box of cookies, though (not great for ANYONE’s body image), we recommend trying a delicious stevia-sweetened latte, upping your coffee creamer game, or enjoying some guilt-free chocolate.

5. Bring in Some Humor

Laughter is the best medicine. To make your daily life happier and fuller, make space to laugh. Watch a funny movie, read a book that makes you smile, or pay a call to your funniest friend. The more laughter we enjoy daily, the easier it is to make happiness a habit.

Bonus: Figure out Your Love Language

We hear a lot about how learning to speak our partner’s love language is a great step for relationships. And it is!

But what if we flipped that on its head and learned about our own love languages?

And then what if we took that a step further and used our love language to be extra nice to ourselves? When we invest in figuring out what makes us feel loved, it makes it way easier to practice self-compassion and self-love regularly.

Next Steps: How to Pay the Self-Love Forward

It is Valentine’s season. Instead of focusing on a Hallmark holiday, though, we’re advocating this: why don’t we all take the self-love we’ve mastered in recent months and pay it forward, to the people we love and spend time with.

Here are a few quick tips:

• Practice a random act of kindness. Shovel a neighbor’s sidewalk, send a distant friend some surprise Venmo cash to buy themselves something nice, or ship a care package off to a loved one. Random acts of kindness make us feel good and lift up the ones we love.
  
  
• Be verbal about it. Lots of us assume that the people around us know we love them, but it never hurts to say it, does it? Make a phone call to tell your folks you’re thinking about them, give your little one an extra hug, or do something nice for your spouse or partner. It’s always nice to feel loved.
  
  
• Practice kindness in action. Exercise kindness in your daily life, by improving your community, donating your time, and just being generally nice to the people around you. It’s a simple thing, but it can make a massive difference in your life and the life of people around you.

Happy Self-Love Season - From us to You

February is a month dedicated to love, and we’re happy to be focusing some of that attention on ourselves. While self-love may seem selfish, it’s the best way to fill our cups and make sure we’re happy, effective friends, partners, and parents in every other facet of our lives.

If you’re looking for a sweet way to celebrate the season, why not kick it off with some delicious 5 Sparrows sugar-free coffee creamer? Shop our selection now to find the perfect match.