5 Brilliant Ways to Love Yourself

Love Yourself

*This post, 5 Brilliant Ways to Love Yourself, was written on behalf of my partnership with Smile Brilliant. All opinions expressed are my own.

This year I am determined to do better and be better. Last year, well, at the end of last year I kind of let things affect me and not always in the best way. I got behind on things and I lost connections with some of the things I enjoy as well as people. I also got behind on my blog, I was behind on posting, on commenting and even got behind on sponsored content. I’m sorry. The move and the behind the scenes drama took a toll on me. I kind of recoiled; it’s not an excuse, unfortunately, it’s my reality. However, this year I am trying to not allow things to affect me so deeply. (Which is proving to be hard these days.) I’m working on more self-care and how to love myself more.

Many of us are on a path to being better humans, which we usually consider to mean for others. But what if we did for us. Here are 5 ways to love YOURSELF.

5 Brilliant Ways To Love Yourself

Forgive Yourself

We are good at forgiving others, but when it comes to ourselves it’s easy to punish ourselves for our mistakes. Think about the words you speak silently to yourself, are they helpful or hurtful? So, you made a mistake, you’re human. We’re all human, we make mistakes, we learn, we grow. Move on.

Photo by Estée Janssens

 

We can all be a little more Bob Ross.

 

Be Honest with Yourself

You may feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders some days, but it doesn’s have to be. Let it out and let it go! The best way to do that is to write it out.

Photo by Tim Mossholder

If you sign up or volunteer for something and you cannot follow through be honest with yourself; you cannot bankrupt yourself for others’ gain. Sometimes, NO isn’t bad. We limit things all the time, why not limit what we have on our shoulders.

Nourish Yourself

I am not saying swear yourself to an unattainable diet or fitness journey, but I am saying feed yourself the most veggies, fruits, and vitamins you can. Somewhere along the way I actually fell in like with working out. It is a good way to work off stress, it also makes me feel good.

Photo by Toa Heftiba

Meditation is another form of nourishing myself that I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone! After meditation you feel a sense of focus and as if you cleansed yourself of whatever it was that was bothering you before you cleared your mind. I hate when I miss a day, but guess what I’m not going to do… Did you guess? I am not going beat myself up for missing a day, I’ll forgive it and try harder.  There have been multiple studies that prove that meditation is beneficial to the human body, this article shares 76 scientific benefits. Love yourself

Photo by John-Mark Kuznietsov

A few Meditation Suggestions:

Insight Timer App

The Honest Guys

Interested in a Love Yourself 30-day straight meditation challenge? I’m in, let’s do it!

Nourish yourself by doing the things you love, the things that make you feel good. That may consist of reading, writing, painting, adventuring alone or with the people you love.

Pamper Yourself love yourself

This is kind of a personal favorite because in the past I have been bad when it comes to pampering myself. Facial masks have been amazing for me. They slow you down but lift you up. Meaning, you’re not going to do a whole lot with a facial mask on but relax and once you take it off you’ll feel good.

Photo by Jen P.

One of my pamper splurges –because I will continue using this product– was sent to me from the wonderful people at Smile Brillant. Did you know that smiling actually has many benefits including reducing cortisol (the stress hormone) and making you feel happy (7 Benefits of Smiling and Laughing)? I need and welcome all the happy and banish all the stress hormones (those are bad for your body and your waistline).

I smiled, okay, I may have done a happy dance when Smile Brilliant sent me a kit to make my smile brighter. I’ve never been much of a teeth-smiler, but lately with my whiter teeth I’ve been trying to let these pearly whites show.

via GIPHY

The Path to a Whiter Smile and more Cortisol Blocking:

I received my kit, which included: 3 Sets of Impression Material, 2 Impression Trays 3-Way, Postage,  desensitizing gel and the whitening gel.

Created molds of my teeth

Make sure you have a cup of water and paper towels available when doing this.

 

Sent the molds back

No need to pay for postage because that’s sent to you in the kit. 🙂 However, make sure your molds are completely dry before sending off.

Received my Custom-fitted Teeth Whitening Trays

 

Started the whitening process

 

TWOFER: face mask and whitening trays! 🙂 I may regret sharing this picture. My mask was falling off because my husband made me laugh so hard while I was putting it on and when you are trying to smile to show off your trays the mask apparently doesn’t hold up. Also, the gig is up, I’m a freckle face.

Before Smile Brilliant

I mean what I say and I say what I mean, and I mean it when I say I was blown away by how quickly I saw results.

After my first try of Smile Brilliant

The desensitizing gel is intended to be used after you whiten your teeth, however, I have sensitive gums, so I used it before and after. Per Smile Brilliant’s website, it’s okay to do this, but it may slow down the process. Nevertheless, after a few uses, I was able to hold off on using the desensitizing gel before the whitening process.

(Disclaimer: This image was taken a week or so after I RAN OUT of my whitening gel. My teeth still kept some of their whiteness despite being all out of my gel and ample amounts of coffee. I’m happy with the results, so I plan on ordering another supply. Something worth mentioning, some of my teeth came out whiter than others. I think that depends on how evenly you apply the gel to the tray.)

I’m so happy with my smile. I DO smile more and I feel happier for it. I sincerely make it a point to smile at people. We all could use a little smile these days, no?

 

Lastly, but most importantly, love YOURSELF by loving YOURSELF

Shower yourself with love notes! When was the last time you told yourself, “I love you”? Let’s be honest, we talk to ourselves all the time but fail to give ourselves little reminders of how awesome we are. Be your own cheerleader!! Hand on your heart, tell yourself I love you- do this often.

 

I want to give Smile Brilliant a huge thank you for sponsoring this post. I am thankful for the results I have received and the support given to me behind the scenes from the marketing staff. Please, please, make sure you check out Smile Brilliant, I promise you won’t be disappointed. Here are some more reviews and before and after photos.