Love You Tender.

For one reason or another, many of us suffer from low self-esteem. Whether you were picked on in grade school for wearing glasses or you experienced some big rejections in your adult life, we all have something about ourselves that make us want to eat an entire box of Oreos.

Perhaps you were raised to believe that if you loved yourself or put your needs first, you’d be considered conceited, selfish or egotistical. So in an effort to avoid being regarded in such a negative light, you put others needs before yours and became your own worst critic.

Here’s the truth about egotistical people. They aren’t practicing self love. In fact, they hate themselves more than anyone. They’re insecure and uncomfortable being true to who they really are.

You can be good to yourself and love who you are without making those around you feel less important. It’s about being kind, supportive and forgiving of yourself regardless of your results. To live a life of happiness, fulfillment and abundance, it’s imperative that you learn to truly love who you are, as you are.

Here are 5 tips on how to bring back the self love.

1) Treat Yourself with Kindness. When you make yourself wrong all the time, it’s hard to ever do anything right. And that’s a breeding ground for misery. Think about the words you use when you talk to yourself. Are you using negative, degrading words like stupid, incapable, irresponsible, unworthy? We all have faults and insecurities. Accept your imperfections for what they are and embrace them.

2) Think of the Best Case Scenario. The media wants you to believe that the world is a scary place. It’s more lucrative and makes for better news. But when you spend your time worrying about all the things that can go wrong you end up attracting more things to worry about. Understand that things almost never turn out the way you worried they would. And if things do turn out badly, trust that you have the ability to handle whatever comes your way. Every time you catch yourself thinking of the worst-case scenario, replace your thoughts with the outcome that you want.

3) Practice Patience. We live in a time of instant gratification. When we don’t get what we want right away, we interpret it to mean that we are failures, are undeserving or that we have bad luck. When you think this way, you miss the lesson and the necessary action that needs to be taken in order to get what you desire. Ideas need to time grow. You can’t expect to have a beautiful, lush garden just by thinking you want to have it. Seeds need to be planted, watered and given time to develop. Trust that what you want will come to you with a little love, time and patience.

4) Learn From Your Mistakes. We all make them. Nobody’s perfect and it’s time we all stop trying to be. When you’re trying something new, don’t expect to master it right away. If something doesn’t work one way, try it a different way. Love and encourage yourself through the process. You’ll pick it up a lot faster when the pressure is off.

5) Be Your Best Friend. Use encouraging, supportive words when you talk to yourself. When something doesn’t work out the way you planned, instead of focusing on all the ways you ruined things, turn it around to find the things you did well. Reward yourself for all the little successes you experience on a daily basis.

It’s time to accept who you are for what you are. We’re all unique and have our own special qualities to offer the world. Your purpose isn’t to live like others or do things based on whether or not they’d approve. Be authentic and true to you. And love yourself whole- heartedly in the process.