This week’s blog post is about why you should love yourself first.
Bit of a cheeky title I agree, but with Valentine’s Day approaching, it’s a day where you might be celebrating romantically, or you might actually be feeling quite lonely.
Isn’t it more important to love ourselves first rather than celebrating Valentine’s Day in such a commercial way? One of the key ways you can do this is by focusing on health – I find that it’s an incredibly good way to boost your self-esteem or feel better about yourself. It then encourages us, when we feel happier and healthier in both mind, body and spirit, to go out there and make ourselves more available to meeting other people. But also just having a good time and enjoying life – that in itself can be extremely attractive.
It’s not just about meeting a romantic partner either, it’s about connecting with new people – something we know is very, very good for longevity of health span. The reason why I think health is such a good way of doing this, is because when we’re feeling and moving better, we’re getting all the enjoyment out of life. Getting lots of feel good hormones like dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins means we tend to enjoy life more and want to go out and do new things.
Doing new things in turn builds self- esteem, and when our self-esteem is good, we want to challenge ourselves further by doing things that take us into our discomfort zone for example.
I read an interview with Vishan Lakani, he runs a company called Mind Valley University. He said very starkly that he always puts himself first – he does his workouts, his meditation, has his family time in the morning before he looks at doing anything in terms of business, or anything else that he wants to do because he has that love for himself. He has good self-esteem, and he knows that when he looks after himself, he’s going to serve others – his friends, his family, his employees, his shareholders, his customers much better.
I really urge you to have a think about this concept, what do you feel about yourself? Would you like to build more self-esteem?
Starting with your health is the most valuable way of doing that. Start with sleep as a number one – get between seven and eight hours of sleep a night. Deep, rich, restorative sleep when you can, and that in turn will give you the bandwidth, and the energy to focus on your mental health, your energy levels, your body composition, your digestive health and your overall fitness for the rigours of life.
When you love yourself you have the energy, and the enthusiasm to do that. Then it’s a ripple effect from there on with all the other benefits you receive.
What’s your Health IQ?
If you’re reading this, you’re are probably in a reasonably senior position, running your own business or have a busy life running the home and juggling other responsibilities. Either way, you’re busy. The convergent pressures of work and family life have probably meant that the time you did have to spend on health and fitness has disappeared. Why not talk to us and see how we can help.
Leanne Spencer is an entrepreneur, coach, TEDx Speaker, author of Remove the Guesswork, and founder of Bodyshot Performance Limited. Bodyshot is a health and fitness consultancy that helps busy professionals get more energy by removing the guesswork around their health, fitness and nutrition. Visit www.bodyshotperformance.com or email [email protected] to register your interest in our services and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.