Looking for healthy self love habits? Things you can do on a regular basis, that will significantly improve your level of self love? Then you’ve come to the right place! Here’s our top 24, self love habits to try in 2024 (and beyond!) So let’s get stuck in shall we?
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24+ Self Love Habits (You Have To Try!)
In no particular order, here’s 24 self love habits you have to try in 2024. Pick one, consistently do it for 30-60 days, notice the results, then decide if you want to stick with it from there.
Spoiler Alert: You most likely will want to!
And sure, habits can be difficult to develop. It will take time, effort and trying again and again. But see it as a self love challenge, really give it a go and you’ll be so grateful for the positive effects.
So what are some of the best self love habits you can develop? Well in no particular order…
1) Start Your Day With Time For You
Whatever it is, whatever you want to do – developing a morning routine that works for you is one of the best things you can do!
See, there’s plenty of different things to include in a morning routine, things that genuinely support your wellbeing. Playing around with different morning routines is also part of the fun!
When it comes to self love habits, this is an essential one, as making time for yourself shows you value yourself and makes you FEEL GOOD!
You should therefore try to make time for yourself, throughout the day and week too…
However, when you do it at the start of the day, you’re starting it off the right way, which makes it easier to then implement and follow from there.

2) Set Goals, Daily (Even Small Ones!)
Knowing your goal, knowing your desired outcome, can also be beneficial when it comes to improving your level of self love. Why? Because it feels great when you achieve it!
You should set goals every day – multiple goals throughout the day even. But they only have to be small ones.
For instance – did you get out of bed in the morning without hitting snooze? Have that as your very first goal in the morning and you’ll get out of bed, already feeling like you’re winning!
Are you hanging out with friends? Then don’t just simply HANG OUT…
Meet them with the goal of having a really great time and connecting on a deeper level… You’ll get far more from it, and then again, feel the victory once you come home at night!
When you set more goals, you can celebrate more victories which in turn, builds self love.
Celebrate everything you can – all the little wins. And be more intentional with your time – not to the point where you can’t relax, but so that you genuinely appreciate every moment.
On that note…

3) Celebrate Your Daily Victories
We touched on this in our last habit, but celebrating your daily victories can be another self love habit in its own right.
Get into the habit of writing down the things that you’re proud of achieving every day – both the big things and the small things.
These can be work achievements, personal growth goals, social goals, the lot!
They can even be little goals, like cleaning the house or getting the washing done. Because why not?! They’re still things that you got done, even when you probably didn’t feel like it!
This is one of the best, simplest self love habits when you’re going through a hard time (like a breakup for example) and want to feel better in yourself and about yourself.
On that note: click here for how to feel better after a breakup.

Self Love Habits You Have To Try
What else have we got? Well, when it comes to self love habits you have to have a go at developing…
4) Commit To Daily Learning
Daily learning is a game-changer of a self love habit. (Honestly!)
See, when you learn and grow, even in small ways, every day, you get one step closer to being and feeling like the person you want to be.
Self love isn’t about striving to be perfect. You’ll still always accept your flaws. But it feels good to be and show up as, the best version of you – only that doesn’t happen by chance!
Small daily learning can come by:
- Reading new blog articles every day. (Like here on Forgetting Fairytales for example!)
- Studying a new section of an online course, daily.
- Reading 10 minutes of a book, daily.
- Or listening to 30 minutes of an audiobook.
Audiobooks have been a game-changer for me when it comes to daily learning, as you can listen whilst doing housework or driving. (It’s multi-tasking at its best!)
If you’d like to give this a try, grab a FREE Audible Trial for 30 days of free audiobooks, right there, instantly available on your phone. It’s the best risk-free place to start!
Of course, actually applying the things you learn, is the next step (after all, knowledge is only potential power as they say!) but start by learning, take it slow and have fun with it!

5) Challenge Yourself!
Another self love habit you may not have thought of – is to challenge yourself, push outside your comfort zone.
Face your fears, don’t stay stagnant! If you’re not growing you’re dying as they say, so find new things to stretch yourself and then FEEL the sense of pride after!
Turn it into your very own self improvement challenge if you like, doing small things daily, weekly or monthly – just make sure you do it!
Why this makes a difference when it comes to self love? Well it comes back to being the best version of you (and enjoying the process.)
It also utilises goal setting and celebrating victories – the other important self love habits mentioned previously, so it’s a no brainer, really!
Be aware of the things you need to do in order to grow, know what you need to work on or what you want to work on. You can still be kind and gentle to yourself, but encouraging too.
This can be done in or out of a relationship, for example – starting with some solo date ideas, crazy date ideas or by starting a new side hustle even!

6) Prioritise Your Health & Wellbeing
One of the most essential self love habits now then, is to prioritise your health, fitness and wellbeing. After all, health is wealth as they say – but you set the rules.
We recommend by starting with a daily or weekly exercise target… This looks after your mind as much as your body. But when you stick with it consistently, that’s when you start to see the results!
No matter how busy you are, no matter how much there is to do – find time to stay active and have fun finding activities that best suit you.
On that note…

7) Create Commitments (Ones You Really Need!)
The best healthy self love habits are the ones that are personal to you, and so I want to introduce you to the idea of creating commitments.
How these work? Well, let’s say you have negative habits that are destroying your level of self love. (EG a common one when it comes to health and wellbeing is binge eating / comfort eating. This eats away at your health and your body image.)
Now Please Note – When it comes to comfort eating, it’s not about fixating on your weight or having to deprive yourself, but not sabotaging remaining at a healthy weight and then beating yourself up about it… Moderation is key.
So any extreme unhealthy negative behaviours can start to be tackled by making commitments and these commitments then become a daily habit.
For instance, a comfort eater may track the number of days that they DON’T comfort eat, and celebrate their victories there.
This process works for anything. (E.G. stopping binge drinking is another common negative habit destroying self love.) Have a think and work out what yours could be and what commitments and challenges for change, that you then want to make around them.
PLEASE NOTE: It’s important to manage your expectations with this one, as just because you create a commitment, doesn’t mean it’s simple, easy and will just be done, just like that. But by focusing on, and working on yourself in this way, commitments are a real, genuine, helpful self love habit, well worth implementing.
Makes sense? Awesome!

Smart Self Love Habits For 2024
What else have we got? Well, when it comes to self love habits, these are an absolute must…
8) Do a Daily Review
So if you’re working on developing some effective self love habits, a good habit to get into is reviewing the habits you try. Reflection is important…
Look at how they’re going, write out any mistakes you made in order to learn from them and let them go. And ALLOW yourself to make mistakes… Mistakes can be a good thing and a strong sign that you’re growing (when you can recognise them that is, anyway.)
So you had a set-back with your comfort eating… Did you then beat yourself up about it? What triggered it in the first place? How could you respond differently next time? What else could you try if you felt that way again?
You see? Reflecting and reviewing makes these habits even more powerful.
If you keep making the same mistake you know you need to home in and work on it more. And when you learn from mistakes, you feel the sense of pride and accomplishment. (So it really is a win, win!)
Not everything is going to be for you, and that’s okay. That’s another reason why frequent reviews (in all areas of your life) are important. On a similar note…

9) Write a Diary
Writing in a diary or journal can be another incredibly powerful self love habit.
They say “a life worth living in worth recording” and so it builds up the value you see in yourself and everything you do. But it’s more than that too…
Are you guilty of repressing your emotions? Do you struggle to express how you feel? Well then getting things out on paper, in a diary, could be the perfect answer for you!
Having a diary gives you a safe space to get things off your chest, to process things that happen, and to be your own best friend. You can break down anything, far easier, when journaling.
We recommend the Classic 5 Minute Journal to help you get into the habit of it (how pretty is it?!), but you can use any, really.

10) Nourish Your Body With Good Food
Feeding your body good food, doesn’t just benefit your health, your weight, how you look and therefore how you feel, but it also feels good, in itself, eating better food!
You feel lighter, more energised, and ultimately – more like YOU!
Swat up on how to eat for health and happiness… Because by the way, that doesn’t mean that you can’t still have treats (you absolutely can!)
It’s just all about finding a healthy balance and healthy foods that you enjoy, which positively influence the way you feel… Then eating them daily!

Calming Self Love Habits
The best self love habits calm your mind, body and soul. So here’s some essentials to add into your daily routine…
11) Hold Your Hand On Your Heart
Taking a moment to close your eyes, calm your mind and hold your hand on your heart is incredibly soothing.
To break it down, here’s what you want to do (as it combines visualisations too):
- Find a calm, quiet place, you can sit comfortably (preferably in your own space, on your own.)
- Close your eyes and take some deep breaths in. Focus on the breath and the breath alone.
- Once your thoughts have started to clear, place your hand on your heart and continue breathing. In and out. In and out.
- With every breath you take, picture your heart filling up with love…
- Feel the love you receive from others, the love you have for others and the love you have for yourself.
- Evoke as much positive emotion as you can during this. Smile while you do it. (And don’t worry if your eyes get a little teary!)
- Focus on love, the power of love, and the healing that self love gives you.
This exercise calms you, grounds you and makes you feel so much more connected. So it’s 100% one to give a go!
It’s also one of the essential daily acts of self compassion you should do.
If you like it, we definitely recommend practicing it daily, as it’s a beautiful self love habit that has the power to drastically change how you feel, whenever you need.

12) Meditate, Daily
So our last self love habit combined an element of meditation, but we thought meditation – in its own right – also deserved a spot on the list!
Now if you think meditation isn’t for you – but you’ve not properly tried it enough – try not to be too fast to discount it.
It’s natural and normal for your thoughts to drift during meditation (so don’t be too critical on yourself over this!) but guided meditations in particular can help to make this easier…
We recommend guided self love meditations if you’re looking to increase self love, as not only are they an effective relaxation technique, but they’re also specifically designed to cultivate self love at the same time. (So it’s a bit of a no-brainer!)

13) Become Aware of your Thoughts
Keeping with self love habits that home in on your mind – a simple one that you may not expect, is just becoming aware of your thoughts.
See, research shows the average person has approximately 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 75% or 45,000 are repetitive.
This means, you should be able to identify at least some of them. What do you often say to yourself? How do you speak to yourself?
If you can start to become aware of your inner voice, you can start to see the level of self love you really have. After all – do you speak with kindness or harshness to yourself? It’s important to know.
From there, you can then start to challenge your thoughts (which we’ll speak about in just a moment) but identifying your thoughts to begin with is a self love habit in its own right, as it’s not as easy to do as you may think…
Practice may therefore make “perfect” with this one. Keep trying until it becomes easier to do.

14) Challenge Your Negative Self Talk
Once you’ve become aware of your thoughts, the next self love habit you want to begin to implement daily – is negative thought challenging.
Home in on the most damaging recurring thoughts that you have…
- Recognise the negative thoughts.
- Challenge the negative thoughts.
- Know why they’re NOT actually true or helpful.
- Then replace them with more empowering ways to think / speak to yourself.
This is another self love habit that takes time and practice, but then starts to get easier.
It is SO important to do however, especially if you’re looking to build self worth, and so it is arguably one of the most essential self love habits you can develop!

15) Fill Your Mind With Positive Self Love Reminders
A nice, easy one now then, is to keep self love on the forefront of your mind in order to remember to practice it!
The best way to do this, is by having daily, uplifting self-love messages and reminders, embedded in your mind.
Read empowering self love quotes, or utilise self love reminders.
I am loved affirmations are also incredibly powerful actually, as if you can remind yourself why others love you, you can start to be kinder and more appreciative towards yourself too.
Know what you need, know what you need to remember, and then repeat it, repeat it, repeat it, to yourself daily.
It’s one of the simplest self love habits to get started with but is actually surprisingly effective!

Powerful Self Love Habits
What other self love habits can you develop if you want to really focus on learning to love yourself more? Well…
16) Use Self Compassionate Touch
Next up – it’s self compassionate touch and this is something we feel like isn’t talked about enough!
See, we all know how good it feels to be hugged and held, right?! But why wait for anyone else?!
Self compassionate touch is one of the simplest but most effective self love habits and can be done in a variety of ways:
- Touching your neck.
- Gently rubbing over your eyes.
- Stroking your cheek.
- Massaging your own head even.
- Making circles on the top of your hand.
- Wrapping your arms around yourself to give yourself a hug.
- Putting your hand on your arm and giving yourself a gentle squeeze.
The list could go on and on, so try all forms and see which you find the most soothing.
It’s not strange – it’s SMART, and makes you feel incredibly seen, heard and supported. Be your own best friend, be your own rock!
Trust me… This is a self love habit you’re going to LOVE once you try it, open-mindedly.

17) Work Through The Pain of the Past
From easy self love habits to challenging ones you not WANT to do (but really need to!) – we’ve got to mention working through the “tough stuff”…
See, as hard as it is, past trauma or unresolved pain can often be some of the BIGGEST things that stop you from truly loving yourself… And you may not even be fully aware of the scale or impact until you break it down.
So as much as you may not want to, or may make excuses not to, working with a therapist or coach can be one of the most life-changing things you do!
Can you do this by yourself? Absolutely. Buy books, swat up, make time weekly to work through your past. That is of course an option too…
But it’s easier when you don’t have to do it alone. So it’s certainly something worth considering investing in. (Trust me.)
Remember, this is also a self love habit you won’t need forever. So, take the plunge, free yourself!

18) Stop Comparing Yourself To Others
Another self love essential, that you’ll want to find a way to turn into a habit – is stopping yourself from comparing yourself to others.
See, it’s human nature to compare. We’re wired to be competitive people. It’s part of our survival instincts.
But it can also destroy our happiness and sense of self love, so it’s incredibly damaging.
You look at everyone else and their “picture perfect” social media feeds, working their way through the key dating and relationship milestones… And you start to feel like you’re behind.
When the truth is – none of that matters. You should focus on you and your journey; shift your energy and attention.
The way in which you do this, can be anything from becoming more aware of your thoughts and stopping them in their tracks, or taking clear, decisive action… However that works best for you.
Our top recommendation is having a social media detox – deleting it, limiting your time on it, or restricting who you follow. But hey – it’s up to you!
The most important thing is that you find ways to stop comparing yourself to others, then implement it… daily, in the way that works best for you.

19) Spend Time With People Who Genuinely Care About You
This is one of the most powerful self love habits that’s not always appreciated enough.
See, who you surround yourself makes a major difference in how you feel. When you spend time around the people who genuinely care about you, and who lift you up, you also help to strengthen the friendship or relationship, which develops it even more.
Now as part of this, you may find that you have to do a bit of a toxic detox, making your circle smaller. But that’s a good thing – and it’s an incredibly empowering process.
In fact, you may even want to make it a habit to become aware of how people make you FEEL (and what’s coming from them and not you.)
Don’t isolate yourself or get sucked into friendships that are just for show. Instead, find the genuinely good people, who align seamlessly with you, then make time for them, consistently.
It’s a real game-changer, no matter what your relationship status is. On a similar note…

20) Don’t Feel Bad About Saying No
We’re storming through these self love habits now, but not without mentioning the importance to say no and setting boundaries.
See, the truth is – people pleasing doesn’t help anyone, as you end up burning out, people lose respect for you, take advantage and you lose respect for yourself too.
You also put your value on pleasing others when it has to come from within.
So don’t be afraid to put yourself first sometimes and have the confidence to say no. Know what YOU need and do what you need – even if that means staying in instead of going out sometimes. (For example.)
See, this is a self love habit that will change and vary. There’s no set rules, except doing what you know is right for you and feels right in that situation.
The same applies for not being afraid to disagree. Practice saying how you feel and track saying how you feel / doing what you need, as a self love habit, daily.
Stand up for what’s important to you. It makes you respect and appreciate yourself more when you do this and you’ll feel like you’re better staying true to you, too.
If you’re unsure what you want or need, start by asking yourself these questions to get to know yourself better – then take it from there!

Simple Self Love Habits
Let’s finish off with some simple yet effective self love habits to have a go at now then…
21) Get Outside
Getting out in nature benefits your mind and body in endless ways. (Honestly, it’s seriously under-rated, yet good for you in so many ways!)
We need fresh air and sunlight… Literally.
It also helps you get out of your head and clear your mind.
So a simple self love habit is making time to sit or walk outside, daily – come rain or shine. It doesn’t have to be for long, but it’s important to give yourself that breather!
Remember, the better you look after yourself, the better you feel in yourself and about yourself. So bear that in mind when coming up with your own self love habits...

22) Get Creative
Just like being able to say what’s on your mind and how you feel, is important, self-expression is also fundamental for self love too.
The best way to do this? By getting a little creative!
Try things like drawing, painting, writing, singing, dancing, pottery making – whatever appeals to you the most.
You don’t have to be good at it and no-one even has to know about it. It’s not for them, it’s for you…
But that’s the best thing about it – being able to do what you love, without being judged.
It’s a great release and outlet.
Finding new creative hobbies is important – and giving yourself that quality time with yourself. (Yes, being able to enjoy alone time will come!)

23) Practice Gratitude
Another self love habit that’s essential, is practicing gratitude daily. You can do this with:
- A gratitude journal.
- Guided gratitude meditations.
- Expressing your gratitude.
- Showing your gratitude (with gestures and things.)
This gets the focus from you – to what you have (both the big things and the small) and ultimately, how lucky you are.
It’s an important and powerful perspective shift that makes you feel good – almost instantly!
Try to think of new and different things to be thankful for, every single day.
WARNING: This can become really quite addictive (in the best of ways!)

24) Practice Daily Self Care
Last but not least then, let’s talk about self care.
See, self love and self care work hand in hand. Why? Because as mentioned above – the better you look after yourself, the more you value yourself and the more it promotes self love.
Self care can be done in small ways, daily.
It can come from your morning self care routines, right the way to your evening self care routines.
There’s actually many different types of self care to consider too:
- Physical Self Care: We’re talking things like exercising, stretching, pampering, getting enough sleep.
- Emotional Self Care: Practicing things like self compassion, relaxation techniques, journalling, therapy.
- Financial Self Care: Practicing things like saving, budgeting, paying bills, money management.
- Work Self Care (Uh huh, you read right!): Setting boundaries, having breaks, establishing good time management.
- Spiritual Self Care: We’re looking at meditation, prayer, time alone, time in nature, etc.
- Personal Self Care: This goes back to having a creative outlet, hobbies, goals, authenticity.
- Self Care Within Your Environment: We’re talking having clean spaces, tidy environments, safety and stability.
- Social Boundaries: This is all about setting boundaries, having a support system, having genuine friends, etc.
So this should give you plenty to think about (besides the go-to self care solution of painting your nails and having a pamper night!)
Find new things to develop and implement them into your life as a self love habit, daily or weekly.

That’s All For This One
So there we have it – our complete guide to 24 self love habits you should (seriously!) consider developing in 2024 and beyond.
Just remember, you don’t have to try to do this all at once.
If you take on too much, you only end up feeling burnt out and like a feel like a failure if you struggle to successfully do it all.
So be realistic – not only on how long you need to make lasting change but also how much you can do in a day or week.
It’s better to overdeliver than feel like you keep letting yourself down. So REALLY remember this one and create REALISTIC plans and schedules.
Have fun! Don’t forget to SAVE this article so you can easily come back to it.
Wishing you the best of luck.
Love,
Ell_x
