11 Quotes That Will Motivate You to Prioritize Yourself.

Nuggets of wisdom from Coco Chanel and Cardi B.

As Valentine’s Day is approaching, we are reminded to pamper others with affection and grand gestures. After all, love is a cosmic force that breaks barriers, prejudice, and pushes us towards greatness.

Yet, before showering others with love, you should never forget to celebrate yourself. Self-love is your ultimate superpower. Always at your disposal.

When you love yourself, you attract love from others.

When you love yourself, you become less needy, and more attractive.

When you love yourself, life gets easier.

We can all use a gentle nudge in the self-love department. After all, as Oscar Wilde put it, “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance”.

Here are some quotes to accompany you on the self-care journey:

Start referring to yourself in capital letters.

“How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.”

— Rupi Kaur

Our perception of love has been defined by childhood memories and how others have treated us. We learn to endure suffering for the sake of love. We learn to prioritize others as a way of showing our support.

Yet, we fail to recognize that true love stems from the relationship we cultivate with ourselves.

When you treat yourself with dignity, speak and think highly of yourself, you also exemplify how you want to be treated.

If you criticize your choices or the way you look, how others are supposed to discover your light if the person closest to your heart fails to recognize it?

People treat us the way we trained them and allowed them to treat us.

Standing out is a marvelous act of self-love.

“The things that make me different are the things that make me.”

— Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne

Remaining loyal to yourself despite the pressure to conform is a hallmark of self-awareness. Being unapologetically yourself boosts your charisma.

Take a look at famous fictional characters like Luna Lovegood or Phoebe Buffay. People love them, not despite being weird. But because they are weird and dare to be themselves.

Instead of trying to blend in, stand out.

Do not let anybody dim your light. Do not fit in. Do not become one of many. Be artistic. Be creative. Be you. Be weird.

Perfection is not relatable. People connect to honesty and vulnerability.

There is nobody in the world that can do what you do. There may be some that try to imitate your vibes, but they will never be good at being you. Just like you will never nail being them. The fake attitude will shine through.

When you get comfortable at being yourself, your happiness and success soar.

Practice makes perfect.

“If you don’t love yourself, nobody will. Not only that, you won’t be good at loving anyone else. Loving starts with the self.”

— Wayne Dyer

To be good at love, you don’t have to be in a relationship. You don’t have to be a master at love to speak about it. All you need is to get in tune with your heart.

When you discover self-love, self-respect, self-appreciation, you stop looking for them in the outside world because the ultimate source is you.

The cycle is easy to understand. When you love yourself, you receive more love in return. When you are proud of your accomplishments, others support you as well. How you approach yourself, improves the quality of your relationships — and that starts with the relationship with yourself.

Nobody will accept your flaws until you embrace the entire package; your quirks and stretch marks. Nobody will commit to you until you get honest with yourself.

You are the only person who can grant you the flourishing love you have been seeking.

The source of happiness is you.

“To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.”

— Robert Morley

The nature of the mind is to seek freedom from pain and suffering.

People search in vain for the goldmine of never-ending dopamine boost, forgetting that happiness is not something you achieve from the outside.

Success does not guarantee happiness. First, you need to feel happy to become successful. To discover happiness, fall in love with little things:

• how you greet the day with fresh eyes,
• the smell of freshly brewed coffee and your morning ritual of journaling,
• the warm touch when putting on body lotion,
• the way you stumble upon entering the room,
• that perfect Sunday playlist and how passionately you get to lay in bed.

Your happiness is dictated by your perception of this world. There is no complicated science behind it.

Do you see the world through the lenses of enough? Do you believe that where you are right now is perfect? Or are you striving for more?

If you always think your happiness is somewhere else, it will never meet you where you are.

Self-love is self-care.

“It is important to take time for yourself and find clarity. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.” — Diane Von Furstenberg

Self-love is not something you accomplish once. It is smart to practice it daily.

The term self-care gets a bad rap, as it is linked with superficial acts of comfort and pleasure. In reality, self-care means establishing and maintaining habits that support your emotional health and wellbeing.

Sometimes self-care is waking up, coming on the mat, moving that body, taking a cold shower, writing when the aroma of coffee fills the room.

Yet on other days, self-love requires you to stay in bed all day, not giving a crap about the world. None of them are bad, and all are necessary. Never deny yourself permission to take care of yourself.

Making time and space for tuning into your feelings is the highest form of self-love.

Never settle.

“Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.”

— Anna Taylor

Boundaries are not meant to keep people out, but to create honest and intimate relationships.

Knowing how to love yourself means identifying and communicating your needs and having the confidence to be alone once in a while.

Love is not always about unconditional acceptance of how others treat us. Internal nourishment is about setting boundaries and saying “no” to what you don’t feel like shouting “hell, yes!”.

Nobody will commit fully as long as you sacrifice your comfort for the pleasure of somebody else.

Boundaries are not limits. They give you freedom. People admire those who set boundaries. Boldness is attractive.

Sometimes you get to live your best version of yourself by becoming a rebel.

Authenticity is sexy.

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.”

— Coco Chanel

What Coco Chanel and Cardi B. have in common? Authenticity.

“If I change myself, then I’m going to lose myself, and I won’t be who makes me happy.”

— Cardi B.

You may not like Cardi’s music. You may not share her ideas and values. But you have to admit: she is fearless in being herself and not caring what people think. Her authenticity protects her career.

The pressure to conform to society’s expectations is overwhelming. Carefully curated social media content tells us that if we don’t pose, we won’t get likes. We got skilled at putting masks on. We hide our true selves for fear of being judged.

We forget that authenticity is the most magnetic energy you can cultivate.

Accept your strengths, your weaknesses, and everything in between. When you tap into the “no f*cks given” attitude, it is impossible for others to not be drawn to that light.

Have the courage to shout yes! to your “free of bulsh*t” life.

Self-love is your biggest wealth.

“Scarcity of self-value cannot be remedied by money, recognition, affection, attention or influence.”

— Gary Zukav

Chasing approval through possessions and social media status is all the hype. It is easy to get external validation. It is impossible to build happiness upon it.

Self-worth does not correlate with material possessions or the opinions of others. It is strictly connected with your perception and belief about yourself.

Possessions don’t make you rich. An abundant outlook on life makes you rich.

When you feel satisfied with having enough, being enough, all you need comes to you. Self-love is the highest frequency for manifesting abundance.

Every fruit, like the manifestation, has its seed. You are the seed that needs water and nourishment so you can bloom.

How you think about daily pursuits, the intention behind your actions, is what drive your happiness. Not material stuff and their accumulation, but rather subtraction.

The less you chase, the less you worry, the more energy you have for taking care of yourself.

The power of affirmations.

“Don’t forget to tell yourself positive things daily! You must love yourself internally to glow externally.” — Hannah Bronfman

Your beliefs either make or break you. The world is the reflection of your mental chatter.

Your self-concept is what you believe to be true about yourself. Your negative self-talk will promote the same qualities in your external world. Luckily, you are the one to break the cycle.

Whether during meditation or when you greet yourself in the mirror: converse with your mind. Affirmations change your life. Meditations powered up with affirmations change your entire mindset.

Your beliefs create your reality and the people you surround yourself with.

Get off the grid.

“Comparison is an act of violence against the self.”

— Iyanla Vanzant

A never-ending comparison reel hinders your growth.

You won’t consequently follow your dreams if you get sidetracked by the accomplishments of others. When you are busy looking around, you are going to trip eventually.

If we believe we are average, because of Instagram’s illusion, our actions will become average as well.

Life will always provide you with the equivalent of emotions present in you. If you are jealous of the pursuits of others, life will gather around more things you get to be jealous about. If you are busy with pettiness, you will surround yourself with petty people. Like attracts like.

Comparison has never sparked any creative process. Judgment, like worry, is futile and pointless. It only robs you of happiness.

Be the change you want to experience.

Start with that one daily ritual of self-love. If all actions and words would derive from a place of love and understanding, think how much would we influence the world toward a better and safer future?

When you know who you are, what strikes a chord with your values, you discover your compass to navigate this life. When you nail being yourself, you become magnetic. When you become magnetic, you attract what you desire. Life becomes abundant.

Never feel guilty about putting yourself first. We should never feel guilty for being our greatest cheerleader.

“Loving yourself isn’t vanity. It’s sanity.”

— Katrina Mayer

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