Self Love Sunday | 20 Things I Love About Myself

Why is it so hard to love ourselves? It’s easy for some I suppose, but I’m not part of that club.

I’m 30 and I’m at a point where I need to figure this out in order to move forward in life. I decided to start the series on a high note and write 20 things I love about myself, but I’ve been staring at this screen for half an hour trying to come up with something. This is hard.

*EDIT still sitting here 2 days later. This is really hard.

*EDIT #2- It is now Thursday and I started this list on Sunday.

I can think of a million reasons to hate myself, and a million things I could change TO love myself, but I can’t think of much that I love right now. I can look at the future, hopeful for change and I can put the work in to get there- but what do I do right now?

Let’s start with what I believe self love to be. I think self love is respecting your body enough to make healthy choices, understanding your own needs, coming to the realization of what you deserve in life and working towards achieving it, being content with who you are- so much so that other people can’t destroy how you feel about yourself, making the necessary changes in life to truly take care of yourself physically, mentally and emotionally, being secure enough to enjoy your own company, and appreciating what you see in the mirror- flaws and all.

This list may take me a while to finish, but here are 20 things I love about myself:

1: I love my eyes. They’re probably my favorite feature. Most people think they are brown upon first glance, but they’re actually hazel- mostly an emerald green colour with flecks of brown around the middle.

2- I love how I have a glass half-full mentality. I tend to romanticize things and look at the world through rose coloured glasses , which isn’t the best thing to do in certain situations, but it’s mostly a good quality I think.

3- I’m a great friend. Almost too good sometimes in that I forgive way too easily, but I don’t think anyone can say I’m a bad friend. I listen and problem solve to the best of my ability, I try to find solutions for people who need them, I’m loyal and trustworthy and I keep secrets safe. I love when people come to me for advice or just to talk.

4- I love my sense of humor. You may not see it until you get to know me, but I have a very witty, sarcastic and dry sense of humor. If you don’t know me, you may not realize I’m joking sometimes, but I think I’m hilarious.

5- I love my natural body shape. I may be overweight (which I don’t love and I’m working on), but I’ve always been proportionate and I LOVE that. If I have to be overweight right now, at least it’s evenly distributed.

6- I’m a good mom and I make sure that my son knows he is loved and appreciated daily.

7- My skin. That’s such an odd thing to love, but my skin (although a bit too pale) is always soft and doesn’t give me too many problems. It also has been put through a lot by me losing and gaining weight over the years, and pregnancy, but has held up like a champ.

8- My morals. I haven’t always made the best decisions in life, but I’m proud of myself for having morals and sticking to them.

9- My childlike wonder. I will always ALWAYS look at the moon and stars when I step outside at night, and then tell you to do the same. My son has started pointing out the moon to me when he sees it too because I’ve always done that for him. I get excited when I come across interesting things in nature, and constantly yearn to be near the ocean just to experience it’s magic.

10- I love to have fun- like good clean family fun, and I love that about myself. I don’t drink or go to clubs, but take me to an amusement park and I’ll be wearing some sort of park merch in line for the biggest roller coaster. I love board games, and playing cards, and collecting souvenirs for people on vacation, exploring new places, camping, taking my son to his soccer games and swimming lessons, planning birthday parties, etc.

11- My way with words. I’m extremely awkward sometimes to speak to and often can’t string together sentences that make sense- especially around people who make me nervous, but my written word skills are on point (most of the time). I often have friends who come to me to write them things- letters, messages to other people, etc because I somehow always find the perfect words for most situations.

12- Number 12 has had me staring at the screen for way too long. I’m stumped on what else to write. I like my face. I’m not happy with my weight right now, but I’ve always loved my face, and can’t wait to continue to lose weight to see it continue to look better. I love my face shape, my lips and my nose. I miss how I looked when I was thinner, but I’m working towards getting back to where I was.

13- I’m open minded and accepting of others.

14- My creativity and imagination. I love painting, writing, working on my blog, coming up with ideas, home projects, etc. I’m currently writing a novel, and also working on a collection of poetry- both of which I would love to get published in the next few years.

15- I’m an introvert. This was something I previously hated about myself, but I’ve come to appreciate it. I’m constantly observing and taking things in. I enjoy spending time around my closest friends and family rather than being in big crowds- and I love that. I hate small talk and can’t carry a “hows the weather” conversation to save my life, but I love deep conversations that last for hours.

16- My ability to laugh with everything I have until I can’t breathe, and then start all over again hours later when I think of the thing that made me laugh in the first place.

17- The way I come up with things I want to do, and work towards achieving them. Even if I fail, at least I went for it and tried instead of sitting on my ideas forever.

18- The way that I love other people. No matter who it is (friends, etc) I always see their positive traits first and build my love for them around that. I love learning about people- what they’re thinking and feeling, what makes them wake up in the morning, what they love.

19- My versatile taste in music & movies. My recently played playlist consists of current pop, a variety of 80’s music (see some of my faves HERE), country, alternative, 90’s and early 00’s hits (I’m on a Matchbox 20 kick right now), hip hop, dance music, and even a few classical hits like Piano Sonata no. 14 - otherwise known as Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven) which is my FAVOURITE of all classical music. I would love to learn it on piano someday.

20- How I love helping other people experience new and exciting things. I’ve spent time around people who couldn’t care less about this and I know how I feel around that energy, so I’m noting this as a positive personality trait for myself. There should be a word for this feeling (if there is, let me know!). If you tell me you’ve never travelled somewhere that I have, I’ll be the first person to want to take you there. I love watching someone’s face light up when they see something beautiful for the first time. I think that’s one thing I love about motherhood- getting to show him all of the amazing things the world has to offer.

Whoa that was tough! It took me DAYS to come up with this list. I’m going to spend the next year working on myself and then I’ll write another blog post to see if there’s anything new I love about myself next year.

There will be another post going up this Sunday coming (and hopefully on time this time). The next few months and beyond will be heavily focused on weight loss, trying new things (hot yoga finally?), inner reflection, and self improvement.

D