Start your Monday with these simple self-love practices to help motivate you this week

Self-Love

"Don't forget to love yourself first."

One of my favorite quotes is the one above because I find it so important and so true. In order to love someone else unconditionally, you must first love yourself unconditionally. Yes, it is easier said than done. As a woman,  loving yourself can be challenging at times due to these sort of invisible "standards" for how we should look, and how we should feel. I wanted to share some more personal thoughts and feelings with this post, so here it goes...

I have shared previously that I live a very healthy lifestyle. I work out and eat clean regularly, but one thing I have suffered with for the past five years is loving myself unconditionally. To give you some background, I started modeling seriously when I was about 14, and since I am 5'7 with a healthy frame, I struggled to appear as thin as my competition at castings who were 5'9 and above with teeny tiny limbs. Some days I would feel great, I would work out and eat healthy, the next I would be told that my butt is too big and how I wouldn't work for someone's brand because I was too normal looking. Hearing things like that and with the lack of consistent modeling jobs, I would often question my looks and become very insecure. It quickly led to cutting back on food when I was only 115 pounds to begin with at 16 years old. I wouldn't say I had an eating disorder, but as a teenager, that is not living.

To live is to feel, savor, experience, and love. I did not love myself because what people said led me truly believe that I was not good enough and that I would never be unless I had a stick thin body. I was living a life where my happiness depended on my looks. When I turned 18, I quit modeling and it was the best decision I ever made. Life is all about balance and building yourself from the inside-out.

Here are some tips I live by and I am the happiest I have been in a long time:

• Act on what you need instead of what you want.

• Practice good self-care - Yes, that means taking a bath or pampering yourself!

• Set intentions for yourself. Set a weekly goal - I like to challenge myself to try to not complain.

• Listen to your body and listen to yourself.

• Accept uncertainty and be real with yourself to those around you.