1. Establishes self-awareness

The journey of self-love begins with self-awareness. To be able to love yourself, you have to realize your worth and potential. The process involves understanding your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and how they affect you. Self-awareness also means acknowledging and accepting your strengths, as well as your weaknesses, which provide you a more realistic assessment of your capabilities. According to More Self Esteem, self-awareness also benefits your relationships because it enables you to give more of yourself to others. 

2. Lowers stress and promotes resilience

A sense of self-love gives you the strength to face life’s challenges. Without it, negative feelings and self-doubt can easily overcome you. Whereas, when you feel good about yourself, you become more capable of dealing with the obstacles in front of you. Self-love also infuses you with a positive outlook in life that makes challenges seem like temporary setbacks. This ability to endure tough situations helps lower stress and build resilience. 

3. Builds courage to try new things and take risks

One of the difficult things about navigating through life is having the courage to try new things and take risks. Although some risks may be seen as dangerous, taking calculated risks can drive you to achieve your goals and propel you forward. Moreso, going out of your comfort zone by trying new things can help you unlock new opportunities. When you love and trust yourself, you’re more likely to take risks that you believe will be good for you. 

4. Develops self-compassion

According to Medical News Today, the desire to succeed and do things right all the time can make people overly critical of themselves. Studies have shown that too much self-criticism can make you prone to several illnesses, both physical and mental such as irritable bowel syndrome, eating disorders, fibromyalgia, depression, and anxiety.

When you cultivate self-love, you understand that failure is not synonymous with defeat, but an opportunity for growth. Thus, self-love entails being kind, understanding, and forgiving toward yourself when you don’t succeed or feel inadequate. As you develop self-compassion, the practice transcends to how you treat others.

5. Sets boundaries

Sometimes the desire for social acceptance makes you feel obliged to say yes to things you do not want to do. A vital part of self-love is knowing what, when, and whom to give your energy to — and when to set boundaries for things, situations, and people who don’t deserve your time.