“The way we make choices for ourselves dictates the way we love ourselves.”

—Heather Reinhardt

Self-love is trending, which is an absolutely wonderful thing. We need to be having conversations that help us understand how to take better care of ourselves and tend to our own needs before others (i.e. the airplane oxygen mask). But what does self-love actually mean? And more importantly, how can you apply it to your professional life?

I define self-love as making a series of strong choices. One must own everything about oneself—taking full responsibility for one’s thoughts, actions, choices, words, moods, and previous ways of dealing with situations. Someone who loves themselves takes full ownership of all of their choices. When you can own it all, that means you know yourself, deep down to the core; you understand your identity. To get to one’s true identity, often we have to shed layers that don’t serve us. We have to change and evolve, constantly growing into better versions of ourselves, both personally and professionally.

I’m one of those people that believes how you do one thing is how you do everything. Everything you do in your life is a choice, especially how you choose to handle situations (good and bad). When you recognize that you are in charge of your choices, you become empowered. When you’re empowered, your belief in yourself skyrockets. If self-love is defined as making a series of strong choices, the definition of making a strong choice is making a wholehearted, committed decision; a decision that steers your life in the direction of your dreams and goals. When you start to love yourself, every arena of your life begins to shift (how you do one thing is how you do everything).

Self-love on a personal level often times relates to relationships and self-care. In relationships, we’re coming to terms with past relationship behaviors, becoming aware of toxic energy, understanding we’re worth being treated like the queens we are. With self-care, we’re starting to treat our bodies better: taking bougie baths, investing in quality products, hydrating with CBD, Bali yoga retreats with goats (you get the point!) … we’re rocking the self-care portion of self-love.

“If self-love is defined as making a series of strong choices, the definition of making a strong choice is making a wholehearted, committed decision; a decision that steers your life in the direction of your dreams and goals. ”

Every choice you make is either going to uplift you or drain you. It takes time and exploration of yourself (your patterns and practices) to decipher which is which, but the easiest way to understand is to ask yourself, “does this choice move me forward on the path towards my goals, or does it move me back?”

When I was in the beginning stages of creating my brand, I had to put it (me) as the top priority. This often times meant choosing to work instead of going to happy hour or choosing to use my vacation time curled up in my house, building out the blueprint of my brand (not that you have to skip all happy hours and vacations, there has to be time to relax and play to create balance in life). However, for the last few years, I asked myself time and time again if the choice I was about to make was going to move me forward on the path towards my goals. If it didn’t, I made a different choice, a choice that served me and my goals.

Another part of self-love on the professional level is committing to an attainable daily goal that moves you one step closer to the desired outcome. Whether it’s a small task or something bigger, forward movement is forward movement. Since we’re in charge of our choices, we are able to build out the path of our lives. We get to consciously create the life we want to live. How cool is that!? The way we make choices for ourselves dictates the way we love ourselves.

About the Author

As the self-love aficionado, Heather Reinhardt really loves herself. And, she wants you to really love yourself, too. She wholeheartedly believes that having self-love supports you during your struggles. She’s on a mission to make sure as many people as possible have the proper tools to cultivate self-love. With that in mind, she created her lifestyle brand and product line, Amour De Soi, which includes Affirmation Candles and Self-Love Jewelry. Heather's debut book, Go Love Yourself was released this year. Heather has her fingers in many pies (both metaphorically and IRL—she loves pastries). She is an author, speaker, producer, entrepreneur, yogi, and Yerba Mate addict. You can find out more about her work at @heathereinhardt and heather-reinhardt.com