If You Love Yourself, You Will Do These 10 Things Daily - Olubunmi Mabel

When you hear people say practice self-love or love yourself, you’d think it’s a natural phenomenon that everyone naturally does. 

It has become more of a trendy phrase than what it originally should mean.

There are so many things that loving yourself is not, and that includes waiting till you burn out before showing yourself some love.

What does it really mean to love yourself?

It is you being comfortable with who you are and owning your journey.

It is loving you in all ways and always choosing to do things that will benefit your mind, body, and soul.

And this is what you should do every day.

It is not what you do on days when you feel the world doesn’t love you enough or appreciate your worth.

It means being kind to yourself and not piling the blame and problems or negativity of the world on your shoulders.

How do you show yourself love daily?

1. Learn to Eat Healthy

I had to mention food first because how do you function when your brain is not receiving enough energy?

And it’s not just about filling your mouth with anything you see.

It’s about eating healthy.

I see every meal as a means to communicate with my internal organs, which means I should talk to them in a way that respects them.

How do I respect them?

By eating a balanced diet and staying hydrated.

I didn’t say strict dieting.

I said balanced diet and staying hydrated.

A balanced diet is the presence of the nutrients your body needs to function at that time.

You don’t have to eat what the next person says, what that instagram post says, or even what the trend says.

Eat what your body needs for nourishment, sustainability, and energy.

2. Speak Kindly to Yourself

It’s one thing to know how to own up to your flaws and shortcomings.

It’s another thing to be your own worst critic.

When you’re your own worst critic, you see yourself in the worst possible light.

You do not think that you’re good enough for anything or even qualified for anything good.

You dwell on your flaws and amplify them larger than they are in reality.

It’s more like you’re always playing a game of how worse can I push myself?

Instead of doing this to yourself, constantly put yourself on the positive.

When the storm of negative emotions and self-talk comes up, resist and stand against it with your own positivity.

In fact, say it out loud whether someone is there or not.

Speak to yourself like you want to someone you love so dearly.

Somehow, it is engraved on your subconscious, and it becomes a part of you.

If you’re not kind to yourself, how do you expect orders to extend grace to you?

3. Get Enough Rest

I remember when I used to be a chronic insomniac, and I was getting my deadlines smashed because I wasn’t sleeping well; I didn’t know I was a ticking time bomb.

I used to see sleep as a luxury.

I saw people who slept a lot, like those who had nothing to achieve.

I saw them as pure time wasters and laidback people.

It took me breaking down to understand that sleep is a necessity.

After this time, I made a rule to not deprive myself of sleep for things that can wait.

Your body and mind need proper rest to function well.

You need to stick to a bedtime routine to protect your peace.

You should also notice that when you’re well-rested, you tend to have a more productive day.

Sleep is the key that opens the lock of productivity.

4. Move Your Body

When I say move your body, I don’t mean you should hit the gym and do fifty push-ups or go for seventy-five hard at once.

That is not it.

Your body or exercising is not just about weight loss or looking a certain way.

It is about feeling good about yourself.

Staying active, especially if your work is majorly sedentary, will keep you in good spirits.

I recently made it a duty to achieve at least five thousand steps daily.

At first, it was not easy because it was strange to me and my whole body.

Along the way, I began to find it enjoyable because I had other people on the same journey as me.

I did this for myself because that movement helped boost my mood and strengthened my health.

You can make this a habit and see how it goes.

You don’t have to be like me to take five thousand steps per day.

You can try yoga, dancing, or even a full-body workout session.

There are so many coaches on YouTube you can follow.

This is you telling your body and yourself how much you love it by keeping it in good form.

5. Set Boundaries and Protect Your Peace

If there is one thing I protect with every fiber of my being, it is my peace of mind.

I do not allow people to drain my energy, dump their negativity on me, or disrespect my space.

This is because when they keep doing this to you, you absorb it like a sponge, and before you know it, you will reach a breaking point.

Saying no to people does not mean you dislike or don’t care about them.

It is about keeping your own sanity intact.

Imagine giving a brick out of your fence to everyone building a house around you.

Every building will end up having a piece of you, and you will have nothing of yourself left.

Set healthy boundaries and let people know that even though they disrespect every other person around, they are not allowed to disrespect you.

Set healthy boundaries in your relationships irrespective of who it is.

If you do not set these boundaries, your emotional borders will be open to drainage.

6. Invest in Your Growth

There is this popular saying that the day you stop learning is the day you start dying.

There is no lie in that.

Because how do you explain how to build capacity without growing or learning?

Invest in your skills, read books, take courses, and work on your passion.

Sometimes, you might not even have to invest in the skills that you have.

You might take on a new skill set altogether.

You have to make it a daily habit to learn something new or improve on what you already have.

Don’t let your potential go to waste.

Invest in becoming a better version of yourself every day.

That little progress you make each day is what you need to become all you want to be.

What better way to show love to yourself than making that self better than you know it to be?

7. Practice Gratitude

More often than not, we usually focus on things that are missing and forget that most of the things we have now were once our desires.

As a person, taking a moment each day to be genuinely grateful is a focus changer.

People who practice gratitude have testified that gratitude moves your focus from lack to abundance.

It helps you see things from the positive rather than the negative lens.

Appreciate what you already have.

Take a moment each day to be grateful for the beautiful things in your life, such as good health, opportunities, love, good weather, and as many other things as you can think of.

When you have this mindset shift, you begin to radiate more peace that stems from contentment.

8. Spend Time with People Who Uplift You

As humans, the people in your life influence your life more than you realize.

The people around you may be why you constantly feel drained, unmotivated, and doubtful.

When you talk about self-love, it means being intentional about who you allow into your space.

This is because energy is contagious, and trust me, you need to choose wisely.

The mood, attitude, and mindset of the people around you will rub off on you, either positively or negatively.

They won’t let you settle for less or remain stagnant.

They celebrate your wins, support your dreams, and remind you of your worth when you forget.

Toxic relationships take a toll on your mental health. 

Constant negativity, competition, jealousy, and gossiping create an environment that breeds insecurity and stress. 

You won’t tolerate relationships that harm your peace if you love yourself.

You don’t need a large group of friends to be happy; you just need the right ones. 

Loving yourself means being intentional about who you allow into your space. 

Surround yourself with people who inspire, uplift, and bring out the best in you. If a relationship doesn’t add to your life, it’s subtracting from it.

9. Do Something That Brings You Joy

You deserve to experience joy daily, not just occasionally.

Every day should have at least one moment of pure joy. 

It means making time for things that genuinely make you happy. 

Life gets busy, and responsibilities pile up, but joy should never be a reward for doing something really tedious.

It should be a daily priority. 

Many people treat joy as something to experience only when everything else is done, but the truth is, if you wait for the “perfect” moment, you might never get to it.

Joy is fuel for your soul. 

My mum passed on a year ago, and the fact that I’ve always found joy in the mundane things was what helped me go through grieving moments easily.

You just have to identify what truly brings you joy and indulge in it.

Yep.

That’s because happiness and joy look different for everyone.

Your source of joy doesn’t have to be complicated. 

It could be as simple as listening to music, dancing in your room, painting, cooking, writing, watching your favorite show, taking a walk, working out, reading, dressing up, or wearing makeup.

Many people say they’re “too busy” to enjoy life, but the truth is they don’t prioritize it.

Treat joy like a necessary part of your routine. 

Whether it’s ten minutes or an hour, set aside time every day for something that makes you feel alive.

If you don’t make time for joy, life will quickly feel like a series of obligations rather than something to be enjoyed.

Because what’s the point of success if you’re too stressed to enjoy it?

Self-love isn’t just about productivity, it’s about enjoying life too.

10. Express Your Feelings Instead of Bottling Them Up

Your feelings matter, and they deserve to be heard—first by you and then by those who care about you.

Loving yourself means allowing yourself to feel and express your emotions in a healthy way. 

Bottling up your feelings doesn’t make you strong, instead it builds up stress, frustration, and emotional pain that can eventually explode in unhealthy ways. 

It’s just like stacking emotions on top of one another until they are eventually unable to hold it together anymore.

Many people were raised to believe that showing emotions is a sign of weakness, and society didn’t even help in this regard.

Society often encourages us to “be strong” by staying silent about our pain, frustration, or sadness. 

We’ve been conditioned to believe that figuring it out alone is what does the magic for us and not sharing the burden.

When you suppress emotions, they don’t disappear. 

They stay inside you, building pressure until they find an unhealthy way to escape, either through emotional outbursts, withdrawal, or even physical symptoms.

Loving yourself means acknowledging your emotions instead of ignoring them. 

Every feeling exists for a reason. 

Self-love means being honest with yourself about how you feel and allowing yourself to process emotions without guilt.

Self-love is not just a feeling; it’s a choice you make every single day.

It’s in the small, consistent actions that show you value yourself enough to prioritize your well-being.

Loving yourself doesn’t mean you’ll always feel confident, happy, or at your best.

There will be days when you struggle, make mistakes, or feel unworthy.

But self-love means showing up for yourself even on those tough days.

It means speaking kindly to yourself when you fail, giving yourself grace when you fall short, and making choices that align with your growth and happiness.

Which of these self-love habits do you already practice?

Which ones do you need to work on?