Think back to how different your niche was five years ago. I’m talking about the friends you surrounded yourself with, your relationship with your parents, your favorite kind of music, what you ate, all of the above. You’ve likely changed a good bit from then to now, right? Through all this inconsistency, there’s been one unending constant. That, my friend, is yourself.

We are incessantly exposed to articles like “How to Get a Man to Fall In Love With You” or “Ten New Moves in Bed to Keep Him Interested”, but seldom learn about finding a sort of home in ourselves, or why it is so important in the first place.

Self-care is not a narrow topic but rather a multifaceted approach. All three elements, mind, body and soul, hold the same importance. Once you take on one approach (i.e. body → healthier eating habits), a number of good habits will suddenly follow, making it easier to embody the other two.

In the process of taking care of oneself, it’s important to not only take note of your faults but also how to improve those downfalls. Self-care comes in every possible form, both active and inactive. Trying to improve your body? Workout, take the stairs, detox once a week, down a green smoothie a night after going out. What about the mind? Cleanse this often! Write down thoughts, don’t dwell, give more compliments. Soul? Meditate, drop toxic habits/people, go on a hike! The list is endless.

To briefly note, there’s this idea called the Law of Attraction. This basically states that what you exert will come back to you. One who is paying more attention to the good in their life will have more positive vibes sent their way. Furthermore, one who is a Negative Nancy all the time will keep being hit with even more reasons to frown. The choice is yours- the former seems like a better option if you ask me.

I stress the importance of self-care because at one point, I was doing everything for someone else but still wasn’t at home with who I was when I went to bed every night. All my actions were seemingly selfless but came at the expense of my own well-being one too many times.

Your relationship with your parents, friends, teachers and peers, can become exponentially better once you’ve mastered the relationship with yourself. Many of us are so focused on how to be good enough to win someone over without fully being at peace with the one voice we’ll never be able to escape- our own.

Someone people are incredibly altruistic and are constantly working so that others can benefit. I cannot fathom how absolutely wonderful it is that such souls still exist and devote their time so that others may live a happier life. However, one cannot help others to their full potential until they themselves are at their best.

Beyond relationships, our ability to succeed in our work field can also exponentially increase. While we’re constantly looking at ways to improve in one specific aspect of our life, it’s important to note that our fallbacks are often part of a larger picture.

Until we’re at peace with ourselves, too many of our actions are subpar of the actual impact they may hold. If you’re looking at reaching your full potential, start with yourself, first.