How to Love Yourself
You are amazing and you are enough. When your life has been affected by cancer, that can really take its toll. Whether you are exhausted by the physical or emotional affects of cancer, or from looking after someone who has cancer, we would like you to recognise your value and to love yourself.
You are amazing and you are enough.
Here are six ways that you can show yourself some love:
1. Tiny things
Can you think of something tiny that makes you feel happy? Anything at all. Eat your favourite sweet, sit down with that coffee rather than having it on the go, take 30 seconds to watch the birds, buy yourself some flowers.
You are amazing and you are enough.
2. Mantras
Do you have a daily mantra? How do you feel about telling yourself every day that you are amazing? We are making the case for self-love, we know it can be hard to love yourself when you are facing challenging times, but we want you to tell yourself every day that you are amazing.
Mantras can really help; they are little phrases that you can say to yourself to help you see how great you are. What do you want to say to yourself every day that will make you feel strong and capable and positive? You could try:
I am amazing
What a star I am
I love myself
I did brilliantly
I’ve got this
I am strong
I am capable
I am positive
If you’re not sure what to choose, try “I’ve got this, I am amazing”, adding those two together will give you a powerful combination to help you tackle even the most challenging situations. Mantras really do help, give it a try!
You are amazing and you are enough.
3. Power Pose
Have you heard of the Power Pose? It’s an amazingly strong and influential way of feeling positive, helping you to cope with challenging situations.
The Power Pose uses the theory that our bodies and our minds are so closely linked that we can kid our minds into feeling more positive if we use our bodies to send a powerful message.
Simply stand up, put your hands on your hips, look ahead and feel proud and positive. Do the Power Pose for 2 minutes every morning and it will help you to feel strong and capable during the day.
If you can add a mantra to your Power Pose that gives you a really powerful combination for the most challenging days. Try something like ‘I am amazing’, ‘I love myself’ or ‘What a star I am’.
If you’ve never tried the Power Pose, give it a go! That powerful stance will feel good.
You are amazing and you are enough.
4. Love Your Body
Cancer can make you feel very differently about your body. It’s normal to feel that your body has let you down, but we want you to be proud of your body.
If your body has changed, whether the changes are temporary or permanent, give yourself time to adapt to those changes. Feel proud of your body for getting through treatment. Show your body some love by looking after it, eat healthily and keep active. If you can look after your body in a positive way that will improve how you feel about it.
One way to cope with changes to your body is to let other people support you, that might be your family or friends, joining one of our groups or our complementary therapies can also help.
You are amazing and you are enough.
5. Significant Days
Some days are going to be harder than others. If there is a day coming up that you are likely to find hard, then concentrate on being kind to yourself. What would that mean for you?
What expectations do you have for yourself that you would never expect of anyone else? What do you say to yourself that you would never say to anyone else?
Be kind to yourself, buy yourself some flowers, allow yourself to do something just because you want to, talk kindly to yourself, accept that you are good enough and you are doing your best.
You are amazing and you are enough.
6. Socialising
One way to love yourself is to keep socialising. Relationships are a hugely important part of our lives. Feeling connected to your friends, family and community will keep you physically and mentally healthier and even help you to live longer!
You don’t need to have loads of friends or have a partner, it’s the quality of these close relationships that matters, not the quantity. Positive interactions with other people reduce the risk of depression and anxiety.
As our lives change, it’s not unusual for our social networks to shrink, but there are things we can do to make and improve connections with other people.
The key thing is to focus on what you enjoy, then you will be more likely to keep doing it.
You are amazing and you are enough.
Please talk kindly to yourself. Not all days will be good days, so be forgiving to yourself if you are having a bad day.
We are here for you if you need us.
YOU ARE AMAZING AND YOU ARE ENOUGH