Learning to Love Yourself: A Journey to Greater Self-Respect

When you lack self-love and acceptance, it corrodes your self-esteem and prevents you from showing up as your best, most authentic self.

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Fortunately, with commitment and daily practice, you can cultivate unconditional love for yourself that transforms how you live and relate to others. This journey requires peeling back limiting beliefs, tuning out your inner critic, and embracing your intrinsic worth and wholeness.

1. Identify Core Wounds

Low self-worth often forms in response to experiences in childhood or challenging situations in our lives that left us feeling rejected, unimportant, or unlovable. To uproot these core wounds:

• Reflect on when you first started feeling not “good enough” and the key moments that reinforced this story about yourself.
• Write down specific negative self-beliefs like “I am undeserving” or “I am too flawed to love” and how they limit your current thoughts and behaviors.
• Release repressed emotions about past hurts through journaling, art, physical activity, or crying — whatever helps you process the feelings.