8 Signs You Truly Love Yourself: A Path to Happiness

Loving yourself and taking good care of your well-being is not selfishness; it’s a sensible approach that helps maintain balance and achieve what you desire. You might be the most caring, loving, and selfless person, but constantly neglecting your own feelings and needs can lead to self-esteem issues that depend on external factors and other people. Ultimately, this can prevent you from being happy and maintaining healthy relationships. Here are eight signs that you have a good relationship with yourself, and why this is essential for those who want to be happy in life and relationships.

1. You Use Social Media to Share, Not to Brag

There’s a difference between sharing pleasant moments of your life while being at peace with yourself and posting an endless stream of photos just to show others that you have a life and are as good as anyone else. Using the internet to boast or seek validation is foolish and won’t bring you any genuine emotions. Instead, comparing yourself to others and trying to win the race for prosperity only harms you and wastes your time. If something is truly important and meaningful, you don’t need to show it off; simply enjoying it is enough. Next time before posting a photo online, consider your motives. If you want to remember something or share it with friends, go ahead. But if you’re seeking attention from an ex or someone you envy, it’s better to stop and remember your self-worth.

2. You Take Care of Yourself

When you love someone, your natural need and joy is to take care of that person. You cook for them, surprise them, compliment them, support them, and offer advice when needed. However, we often fail to be as attentive to ourselves as we are to our loved ones. To maintain a good relationship with yourself, self-care is essential. This can mean getting enough sleep, not skipping meals, treating illnesses, indulging yourself, and forgiving your mistakes. To increase self-love and care, do something special for yourself at least once a week, even if it doesn’t cost much or anything at all. A bath, a face mask, new shoes, watching your favorite movie, or enjoying your favorite dish at a café—anything that makes you feel better without any particular reason.

3. You Are Open About Sex

People who are not ashamed of their bodies and needs are less likely to have difficulties with sex, openness, and variety. If you love yourself and want to explore your sexuality, you are on the right path. Similarly, if you realize that sex may not be as important to you as it is to others, that’s perfectly normal. The key is not to try to change yourself to please someone else but to remember basic hygiene, health, and that sexual desire should be mutual. To be more sexually open, you need to understand your desires and determine what suits you and what doesn’t. Then, confidently follow your convictions regardless of what others think.

4. You Always Prioritize Yourself

Prioritizing yourself is not selfishness; it’s common sense. This behavior fosters healthy relationships with yourself and others. Remember, no one can take care of you better than you can. Even if you don’t lack attention and love, remember that you are responsible for your own well-being. Otherwise, you will suffer from constantly shifting responsibility for yourself and your emotions onto others. It’s crucial to balance caring for others and loving yourself. If you want to have the energy to maintain any relationships, look at your relationships with loved ones and understand where you sacrifice your time, happiness, health, and more. Once you identify these areas, start balancing them, even if it means spending less time on familiar activities and people and dedicating more time to yourself.

5. You Manage Your Finances

Independence and financial stability are the first signs that you love yourself and prioritize your needs. Before supporting someone else, learn to support yourself and manage your own money wisely. Also, remember that you are the one earning it. Do everything for your development and achieving your goals, don’t rely on others’ help, but don’t reject it either, especially if it’s necessary. Remember that taking care of yourself is not only emotional but also material. Therefore, wisely allocate how much money you need to spend and on what.

6. You Are Kind to Others

Only a person who is happy and content with themselves can give something good to others. If you are kind, open, and friendly, it means you care about your inner peace. You satisfy your needs and can handle difficulties, which is why you don’t expect anything from others, don’t depend on their opinions and behavior, and don’t get upset over trifles. People who know how to love themselves are easy to communicate with—they inspire and instill confidence. Even if someone does something negative towards you, you are confident enough to understand whether someone is telling you the right things or just venting their negative emotions and feeding their weakness and low self-esteem.

7. You Work on Self-Improvement

Being confident is great, but overconfidence can harm you and those around you. If you are not emotionally intelligent enough to admit your mistakes and find ways to correct them, it will be very difficult to communicate with others and enjoy life. However, it’s also necessary to be able to recognize your mistakes. Don’t blame yourself, as this is a sign of weakness. Admit to yourself what is hard to admit, take responsibility for your mistakes and negative aspects, remembering that everything is in your hands and it’s never too late to fix anything. Make a list of traits you don’t like about yourself, being completely honest with yourself. Then, think about what makes you continue to cultivate them and how to get rid of them.

8. You Are Not Dependent on Others’ Opinions

If you give yourself enough time and trust your feelings, then the approval of others should not form the basis of your self-esteem. It’s important to understand the difference between a situation where you need to listen to what others say and a situation where all your thoughts and actions constantly fluctuate because others’ opinions are more important to you than your own. You won’t be upset that someone doesn’t like you because you understand what you need for happiness and what kind of people you should let into your life.

For further reading on self-improvement and emotional intelligence, you can visit Psychology Today.