Love is definitely in the air but before you pour your heart and your savings into your friends and loved ones, take time to love and appreciate yourself. Caring about yourself is a wonderful thing, though sometimes easier said than done. However, it is important to love yourself inside and out before you are able to fully love another. Try these tips to get started on a lifetime love affair with yourself.

1. Accept your body: Everybody, more particularly EVERY Body, is different. Accept and own your unique curves, muscles, hair, cellulite, freckles, and every other part of you. Embrace your perfect teeth and not-so-perfect legs because they are a part of you. Once you begin to accept and embrace your imperfections you become empowered. This empowerment within you then exudes vibrance, confidence, and poise.

Celebrate your best assets: It’s hard to stay healthy, active, and even motivated all the time. Don’t shy away from celebrating your health and fitness accomplishments. Show off your hard-earned thighs in your favorite pair of jeans. If you don’t love your body, how can you expect anyone else to? You’ve worked hard. Now kick up your heels and show off those awesome calves.

Cultivate a healthy respect for your body: Your body is a machine — sophisticated, intelligent and highly sensitive. Respect your body by learning and understanding what’s best for it. What may work for your best friend or significant other may not work for you. Find the foods that satisfy your body and the fitness routines that work for your physique and lifestyle. Be sure to follow a health and fitness plan that is motivating and fulfilling for your body and you.

Challenge your body: The human body is not only a machine, but a master at adaptation. What may be hard for you this month, may become second nature next month. If you find that the weight is no longer coming off or your workouts no longer challenge you, you’ve hit a plateau. Don’t get stuck, step it up! Try something new, add another layer, take another lap – always keep progressing. Health, like love, requires a lifetime effort.

Be realistic about your body: We’re often plagued by media images that are edited beyond recognition and these images rarely represent a variety of body types. If you’re constantly seeing beauty standards that don’t reflect your body type, it can be easy to become convinced that your body is flawed or unappealing. It may be a slow process, but we can re-train our eye to accept a broader, more inclusive definition of a beautiful body. Avoid comparing yourself to these concentrated representations of beauty. Remind yourself at every chance that you are beautiful.

Remember the way you treat yourself sets the standard for how others treat you.

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