As the old saying goes – if you don’t love yourself, who else will? Showing love, care and a little bit of attention to yourself is not a selfish act, but it is a form of self-love that’ll get you through the everyday grind of your life.

 Living in a fast-paced world, we all tend to be busy with our work (or perhaps studies) and personal life – whether in terms of putting in the extra mile at work, bringing up the child, staying up on top of life admin or taking care of our loved ones. While we constantly strive to find a balance in this never-ending cycle, it’s easier for us to lose sight of ourselves and feel exhausted.

 Hence, we all deserve a treat once in a while to boost our self-esteem, energy, general mood and happiness. But what are the best ways that’ll surely remind you that you deserve to lead a happy life and love yourself a little more? (Not sure?) No worries! Here we’ve prepared 5 ways to treat yourself! 

Write a Love Letter to Yourself

For many of us, it’s easier to show love, kindness and compassion to others. But how many of us are good at treating ourself in the same way? How many of us truly understand and accept ourself as we are? If you’re one of those who say, “of course I do,” yet you find yourself to be your worst critic when you’re facing an ordeal or have no idea about the special qualities in yourself that makes you unique, chances are you’re not in touch with yourself and what makes you happy.

 As true love means an unconditional feeling of love, appreciation and acceptance for yourself, it is quite important for you to do some serious introspection on who you are to understand yourself better. One of the best ways to do so is by writing a love letter to yourself. 

 Yes, you read it right! When you can write a love letter to someone else, why not for yourself? After all, you are as important as those around you. By writing a love letter to compliment yourself, appreciate the effort you’ve put on to achieve a goal or something you love about yourself, you’ll have a deeper understanding of who you are and get in touch with your feelings, needs and thoughts. 

 Plus, getting a realistic view of your feelings and what makes you special when you read the letter you’ve written for yourself- you’ll find it easier to get through any negative thinkings that berates you and love yourself as you are despite your flaws. Whether you want to write a letter for your past, present or future self, this simple and easiest way will surely help you to reframe your inner voice to be more positive and manipulate your inborn need to connect the dots to boost your self-esteem.

 Pro Tip: Speaking about writing a love letter to yourself, did you know that a daily self-love journaling habit is an amazing way to practice mindfulness and are good for both your well-being and happiness? It’s a simple practice but surprisingly powerful. All that you need to do is grab a pen, notebook and spend a few minutes in a day to unleash your thoughts and emotions. When we said this, we’re sure some of you might think that you won’t be able to keep up with the practice of self-love journaling after a few days of trying. 

 For those people, we would recommend you to create a unique photo notebook with your name or your favourite picture that’ll keep you motivated to stick with this healthy habit. Not to mention, if you’re one of those who wants to try a bullet journaling or creative journaling, why not get a deluxe notebook from Pixajoy and try to practice your self-love in style!

Go Out and Enjoy the Nature

In today’s ramped-up world, we are all living a busy lifestyle- juggling a million things, always on the go, and trying to fit more things into our schedule. While we caught up with the same daily routine and work like a machine to achieve the goal we’ve set for ourselves, It’s totally normal for most of us to feel bored, stress, and unfulfilled at times – affecting our mental health, emotions happiness as well as our productivity level.

So it wouldn’t hurt you to take a little break, relax and spend some time to recharge your energy once in a while or at least a few minutes in a day. In fact, it is a basic need for us as human beings to give our body, mind, and heart a chance to relax and recharge. Now, when we say relax and recharge; it doesn’t mean that you have to stay at home, being a couch potato, sleeping or playing with your gadgets such as your phone, laptop or iPad.

Although getting enough sleep is also a necessary thing for everyone, you can’t sleep for the whole day, right? ( As too much sleep will lead you to a lot of health problems.) One of the best ways to treat yourself to be relaxed and feel refreshed is by spending some time in nature.

There are plenty of ways you can go outside and enjoy nature, for instance- spending a few minutes to take a walk on a nearby nature trail or a park, a nice little trip outside of your town, or go for a hike. By doing any of these activities, you’ll be able to experience the countless benefits that nature hold for us like giving a different perspective in life, boost your energy level, increases creativity, and more. In addition, it’s also a good chance for you to discover the beauty of nature, reconnect and of course, a perfect way to spend and make memories with your friends or family which will make you happier. 

Pro Tip: When we say that you’ll be able to discover the beauty of nature, what we really mean is the natural arts in our surroundings- such as the beautiful patterns and colours on wood, willowy branches that gently dance in the breeze, the beautiful sunset, beach and more, that are colourful and naturally exist in this earth.

Using your camera to snap those images and adorning the walls of your home with nature posters, metal prints or mounted frames imbues your space with a sense of serenity and harmony which will keep your mind in a calm state.

Go Down, Memory Lane

Life is a mix of good and bad phases – one day everything might seem to be great in your world, the other day might make you feel that life is so unfair and you’re so unlucky to face the tough times, setbacks and heartbreaks. 

 Whilst it is easier for us to think positively during comfortable situations, being able to control our monkey mind (uncontrollable and restless mind) to think positive in the midst of problems, disasters or difficult situation is not an easier thing to do – unless you have something that’ll remind you to be mindful and grateful of the blessing you’ve in your life.

In this case, taking some time to recall happy memories or best moments that you’ve had-whether through photo books or photo prints, can be an effective mood-booster and generate positive thoughts and emotions.

Since memories are bricks that build the lives we all live today, looking back to the happy memories from your past such as your graduation, travel or fun-filled moments with your loved ones during difficult times, is a great way to study your nature and reflect on the good things that had happened in your life.  This will help you to save you from negative thoughts, make positive choices to move forward, stay connected with to the people whom you’ve shared the memories with and happier. 

Pro Tip: There are a lot more benefits that you can get and experience by looking back at your happy moments. If you wish to know more about how looking back on your happy memories will improve your well-being, read on this blog post: Why memories can boost your mood.

Get creative

Creativity is a key ingredient to a joyful life. However, not many people spend their free time or downtime to exercise their creativity- experimenting with techniques and to discover what they’re capable of. The main reason why some people don’t usually try to spend their free time and get their hands on some creative projects is probably because of their own assumptions, that it’s not some natural-born talent or they think that their knack for being creative; this is far from the truth!

Everyone in this world is capable of learning and hone on their creativity skill. But one must be willing to make time and try new things so that they could experience the multiple benefits they’ll get by indulging themself in creative projects.

 As we say this, some of you might wonder how to start a creative project without and inspiration and what are the benefits you’ll be able to experience when you try to create something creative. The answer is simple, make use of online technology and search for DIY (“Do It Yourself”) project ideas from google or Pinterest. You’ll find a lot of inspiration there which will be fun and allow you to create some items by yourself.

From the inspiration and ideas that you got from there, you can experiment and try to create a new craft, artworks or something useful based on your preferences – getting your hands on these activities will improve your problem-solving skill, sharpen your creative skill and give you a fresh perspective in life. This is because the art of creating something involves intention, logic, analysis and need you to “think outside of the box”.

Pro Tip: Let your creativity run free by making your own DIY wood wall art rustic photo Display, twig photo display, or pull out photo album just by using prints.

Buy a Gift For Yourself 

When it comes to buying gifts for family, friends, peers or acquaintance, it’s quite common for most of us to put so much of time, thoughts and efforts to make sure that the gifts that you give to them will be special and put a smile on their faces. But when it comes to buying for ourself, we barely do the same.

If you’re one of those people, it’s time to put a change and treat yourself with unique gifts. Come to think of it, you work hard to live a good life and to be able to get the essentials and the things you’ve wished for. So why not reward yourself once in a while?

By the way, acknowledging milestones with a tangible token of love and spoiling yourself is a great therapy that’ll boost your happiness and keep your spirit high. 

Pro Tip: As giving a gift to yourself is a form of self-love act and it needs to promote self-acknowledgement and symbolises your self-worth, why not get stylish and personalised gifts from Pixajoy.

Now that you’ve read and got to know some best ways to treat and show some love to yourself, we hope you’ll be able to be loving, kind and treat yourself the way you deserved to be treated.If you’ve felt inspired and want to find products that’ll help you to treat yourself,feel free to visit the Pixajoy website and choose your favourites.