What’s your Self-Care Love Language?
It might sound strange, but you can actually use a relationship theory to inform your most important relationship – the relationship you have with yourself! And the relationship you have with yourself starts with your self-care routines.
The idea of ‘love languages’ is a concept that comes from a book by Gary Chapman called “The Five Love Languages” which details how we all give and receive love in different ways.
If you know what I’m talking about, skip straight to the section below about using your love language in a new way – with yourself, as a way of maximising the value you get from self care. If you haven’t heard of Love Languages, read on!
The idea behind the Love Languages, is that in order to connect with your loved ones and create stronger emotional connectedness (not just with romantic partners, but friends and family too!) it’s important to get to know each others’ preferences in both giving and receiving love.
But this doesn’t just apply to others – even if you’re single as a pringle or have zero issues connecting within your relationships, it’s still helpful to understand what YOUR Love Language is, because in order to truly be a self-loving, confident, and peaceful person, you need to be able to show that love to yourself in a meaningful way!
Your first step today is to identify your Love Language(s), if you don’t already know! The below quiz will detail how much of each love language resonates with you (usually there are 2-3 key love languages that we most prefer), and if you’ve never done this before, you’re about
to understand yourself SO much more!
Do the quiz here – https://www.5lovelanguages.com/quizzes/
Once you know, then on to step 2:
How to Love Yourself Using Your Love Language
If your love language is: Words of Affirmation, you can –
- Pull a compliment from your positivity jar (remember making that a few months ago?!)
- Recite positive affirmations
- Read through quotes that resonate with you
- Journalling
- Read a self-development book
If your love language is: Acts of Service, you can –
- Spring clean your house
- Cook yourself a fancy meal
- Get your hair/nails done
- Delegating tasks/chores
- Book a 1:1 training session
If your love language is: Physical Touch, you can –
- Do your skincare routine
- Get a massage
- Spend time stretching
- Scrub + moisturize your body
- Self-touch
If your love language is: Quality Time, you can –
- Sit and watch the sunset
- Switch off from technology
- Go on a hike or scenic walk
- Have a bubble bath
- Meditation
If your love language is: Receiving Gifts, you can –
- Buy yourself new clothes
- Invest in a course/workshop
- Take yourself out for dinner
- Book a trip/weekend getaway
- Create a self-care package
If you know you need more help with increasing your self knowledge, then we have other resources that can help you.
Check out our Slow Life Project counselling sessions, or
Download our guide to discovering your values here – Knowing your values is another useful tool for increasing your self-knowledge, and the benefits you get from your self-care.
