“How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.” – Rupi Kaur
When in a relationship, we get so used to having someone love us that we sometimes forget to love ourselves.
Consequently, when the relationship ends, we feel like we have lost the only person who loved us.
But we forget – that we are capable of showing ourselves the love we deserve.
When relationships end, it’s easy to go into a downward spiral of exploring everything we think is wrong with us and convince ourselves that we are the reason the relationship ended. And that we don’t deserve love.
Sadly, that is not healthy.
Yes, we can be sad about a breakup, but we should also focus on loving ourselves more.
If you are one of those people who have forgotten how to love themselves, this article is for you.
5 Ways to Gain Self-Love After a Breakup
1. Practice self-care.
Even when you are so used to doing all the fun things with your significant other, keep in mind that you can still do the things that make you feel good on your own.
Buy yourself some flowers, take that trip you always wanted to go on, go to your favorite restaurant and take a day off just so you can pamper yourself. You are special, and you deserve to feel that way.
2. Be your own number 1 cheerleader.
Before you start your day, look at yourself in the mirror and appreciate every inch.
Hype yourself up and prepare for the day that is coming ahead. Remind yourself that you have all that it takes to get to where you want to be.
Daily affirmations can help you start the day on a positive note.
3. Hang out with your people.
After a breakup, you might start feeling lonely because the person you spent a lot of time with is no longer around.
You have family and friends, some of whom may have been around even before that relationship started. Spend time with these people and enjoy the love they have for you. When you’re having a hard day, reach out and ask them if you can hang out. Sometimes all you need is some good company.
4. Pour your emotions on a piece of paper.
How you feel inside after a breakup can be difficult even for you to understand.
Often you have mixed feelings, sometimes happy that the relationship ended and sometimes sad.
I find that writing down how I am feeling always makes me feel better.
It allows you to let everything out of your body onto a piece of paper. Sometimes you want your ex to know how you feel, but in some cases, that can be a bad idea to tell them. But that doesn’t mean you should keep everything bottled up.
Write it all down in a journal, a random piece of paper, or your notes app. You will feel like you’ve communicated your frustrations and be in a better space to start loving yourself again.
5. Forgive yourself and your ex.
When you’re holding on to anger and resentment, it can be challenging to move on.
No matter what happened that led to the end of the relationship, do your best to forgive. You can’t go back and change the past. Work your way towards accepting what happened and learn from the mistakes that you made. Forgive and move on.
These Are the Top 7 Regrets People Have After a Breakup→
You Deserve to Love Yourself Even After a Breakup
These tips are a great starting point in the journey of loving yourself.
Some days you might feel like you do not deserve love, but the following day, you wake up and try again.
Whenever I woke up grumpy or in a bad mood, a friend of mine would always tell me that it’s because I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He would go on to ask me to lie down on my bed again and get off from a different side this time.
As silly as this might sound, it really made me less grumpy. I guess because I would have woken up on the good side the second time.
When you wake up on the bad side of the bed, don’t be afraid to go lay down again and try another side. Learning to love yourself again will not be easy, but with persistence and consistency, it can be done.
Do everything that makes you happy and remind yourself that you are worthy of love. Learning to love yourself again will boost your self-esteem and help you effectively deal with the breakup.
Remember, how you love yourself sets the standard for how others will also love you.
Updated from Feb 14, 2024
Photo by Loe Moshkovska
