In this post: The first step to getting more love in your life is by loving yourself so why not kick off your self-love journey by celebrating Self-Love Day (or any other day!) with these 13 different ideas. I’m sharing 13 ways you can celebrate Self-Love Day (aka Galentine’s Day) so that you are showing yourself that you are loved and important, regardless of whether you are in a relationship or not!
Happy Self-Love Day!!!
If you’re thinking, “Say, what now??!! What is Self-Love Day?”, let’s go into a bit of an explanation before we dive into how you can celebrate it.
International Self-Love Day is on the 13th of February each year and it was founded by Christine Arylo, author and self-love advocate, who says:
“The International Day of Self-Love serves to strengthen a person’s feeling of being loved, so that by February 14th they don’t need anyone else to give them love. Any love that shows up is extra. And they are so full of love that on February 14th they are able to give love to all the people they love, not just their romantic partner. When they’re filled up with love, and steeped in their Love Power, the loneliness and let-down just don’t show up.”
Traditionally, we think of Valentine’s Day as being something we can only celebrate if we have a romantic partner and, if we don’t, too bad – you miss out. By celebrating Self-Love Day the day before Valentine’s Day, we are reminding ourselves that we are valued and loved even if we are not in a romantic relationship.
As someone who thinks that feeling good about ourselves is one of the biggest keys to happiness, I’m all for a day that encourages you to treat yourself with love.
You’ll also see this date called Love Yourself Day, Galentine’s Day (celebrating with the gals), and Palentine’s Day (celebrating with your pals).
Whatever you choose to call it, I’ve got 13 ideas on how you can celebrate it so that it’s one of the most fun and fulfilling days you have all year!
Let’s dive in…
1. Celebrate your wins
What have you achieved in your life? Make yourself a list including everything from little wins, like working out when you didn’t feel like it, to big wins such as getting your dream job, buying a house, or being a mother.
Now celebrate! My bet is that you don’t celebrate your wins enough (we often write them off as not important enough or we are already looking to the next goal), so take some time to really acknowledge all of the amazing things you have accomplished and let yourself feel really proud of your achievements.
Think of ways you can treat yourself (some of the ideas on this list might work) and then do them!
2. Plan out some goals just for you
Give yourself a sense of excitement by setting some goals that you would love to achieve just for you, not worrying about what anyone else thinks or wants.
Think about what you’d love to achieve in the next 12 months? What makes you feel motivated and hopeful?
Want some help planning (& achieving!) your goals? Check out my goal course here!
3. Create a vision board on Pinterest
Sometimes it’s nice just to have a bit of fun and let ourselves dream and Pinterest is a great tool for bringing together ideas and images that represent exactly what those dreams look like. This could be saving images of your dream house, dream holiday, dream wardrobe etc… the sky’s the limit!
Let yourself chill out with a good scroll on Pinterest or around the web and create a board you can use for inspiration and motivation for bringing your dreams to life.
Doing this can also help to make your goals feel more tangible – you’ll have something in your mind that feels like a real possibility because you’ve found an image of it.
4. Do a self-love meditation
One of the most effective ways to boost your feelings of self-love quickly is to do a self-love meditation!
They are something you can do even if you’ve never meditated before and generally don’t take very long.
In fact, I’ve recorded you a Self-Love Mini-Meditation that you can do right now for free! It’s part of my gift to my VIP subscribers and you can grab it here or by clicking the image below.
5. Bake yourself a cake or cook up your favourite food
Having yummy food can be so satisfying! Treat yourself to your favourite dish or a special dessert or snack that you can savour with enjoyment.
Why not make it even more fun by cooking while dancing around the kitchen or having a sing-along as you go!
And, if you don’t enjoy cooking, indulge in some takeaway or a delicacy from your local bakery!
6. Reminisce on your favourite moments
While the ease of digital photos has meant that scrapbooking isn’t as common as it used to be, it can be a great way to remember the good times with fondness.
If you can, print out your favourite photos and do up a physical scrapbook album or head to a site to create a digital version you can have online (like through Smilebox) or create an album to be printed (like you can at Snapfish).
Tap into your favourite moments to bring a smile to your face 😊
7. Hang out with your besties
Whether you’re able to do this in person or via a video call, take some time to catch up and laugh with your best friends.
This could be anything from a casual chat to a party where you’re playing games and dancing along to some music. Or maybe you want to get together to work on a project, like scrapbooking (see above!), or even to have a baking session where you can show each other your creations.
8. Do your hair and make-up just for fun
Make yourself feel really fancy by doing your hair and makeup just because you can!
Tap back into the fun you had playing dress up as a kid and pull out your best clothes and shoes. Mix and match different clothes and watch YouTube videos on how to create different looks with your makeup.
Then, if you’re loving the look you’ve created, take some photos to share on your social profiles – or just keep them to yourself for when you want to recreate the look.
9. Have a journaling session
I L.O.V.E. to use journaling to help me clear out unhelpful thoughts & feelings and replace them with more positive, hopeful thoughts & feelings instead. I usually end my journaling session feeling much better about myself (and the world around me!) than when I started!
If you’re the same, why not have a journaling session to boost your feelings of love towards yourself.
You can do this by simply writing down anything that feels like it’s getting in the way of you loving yourself and then asking yourself if it’s really true or just a story you’re telling yourself. What would you tell your best friend if she was in the same position?
You can also use journal prompts to help you have a productive journaling session like these 31 self-love journal prompts designed to help you use journaling to build up your feelings of self-love and self-worth.
Here are another couple of journaling exercises I love to do…
Write yourself a letter of forgiveness
If you’re hanging onto any negative feelings about yourself, why not write yourself a letter of forgiveness!
Simply write “I forgive myself for…” and then note down every regret, embarrassment or resentment, then read the letter back to yourself as a way to release the negativity surrounding whatever you have written down.
Say goodbye to those feelings and feel the weight lift off your shoulders.
Write yourself a letter of gratitude
On the flip side of the letter of forgiveness is to write yourself a letter of gratitude.
What qualities, abilities, traits and characteristics of yourself are you grateful for? Bring to mind everything that contributes to the amazing person that you are.
Struggling to think of anything? Start by reminding yourself of how incredible your body is – the way it moves and functions, not to mention all the incredible things it allows us to do like reading, writing, singing and dancing.
Keep going until you can’t think of anything more and then read over what you’ve written to see just how incredible you are!!
10. Learn your superpowers
Knowing what your superpower strengths are can give you a real boost of confidence and so take some time to learn what yours are so that you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are amazing.
I promise that you have more strengths than you realise and if you want help finding them, check out my Find (& Own!) Your Superpowers course here.
11. Have a pamper session
Give yourself time out for a pamper session so that your skin feels soft and you feel relaxed and rejuvenated.
Soak in a bubble bath (my fav!), give yourself a facial, paint your nails or simply lather up with a divine smelling moisturiser after a nice long shower.
12. Spend time doing something you love
Don’t keep putting off the things you love for another day, today’s the day to put aside some time for doing the things you really enjoy!
Maybe that’s reading a book, watching a movie, doing a jigsaw puzzle, spending time in nature, doing a hobby or even spending some quality time with your kids. Whatever it is, let yourself indulge and honour yourself by doing something you love.
13. Say “I love myself” as loud as you can 5 times!
Too often saying words of love to ourselves can feel awkward and uncomfortable so bring some fun to the words by saying them as loud as you can!
Saying “I love myself” out loud is a form of affirmation that, when repeated regularly, our brains will start to believe as true, even if it feels ridiculous at first…
Embarrassed to say the words loudly in case someone might hear you? Try saying it in funny voices instead (and if this makes you laugh, that’s even better!) or pretend your singing the lyrics to a song 😊 .
Sidenote: If you DO feel uncomfortable saying this, then grab my Self-Worth Roadmap that will help you to feel good about yourself!! Click the image below to get your FREE copy!
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So I hope these ideas have inspired you to make the most of Self-Love Day and really let yourself feel good about yourself and send yourself plenty of love.
To recap, my 13 ways to celebrate Self-Love Day (aka Galentine’s Day) are:
- Celebrate your wins
- Plan out some goals YOU want to achieve in the next 12 months
- Create a vision board in Pinterest
- Do a self-love meditation
- Bake yourself a cake or cook up your favourite food
- Reminisce on your favourite moments
- Hang out with your besties
- Do your hair and make-up just because
- Have a journaling session
- Find your superpowers
- Have a pamper session
- Spend time doing something you love
- Say “I love myself” as loud as you can 5 times!
Have fun!!
And remember that you can love yourself, regardless of whether you are in a relationship or not.
You are completely awesome just as you are!
And if you need help believing this, don’t forget to grab my FREE Self-Worth Roadmap that will walk you through my 5 steps to better self-worth. Click here to grab your copy!
Much love,
Sarah xo
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