There are two memes I’ve seen go around in the last little while that got me to thinking about self-love.

The first goes…

When I saw this, it stopped my in my tracks.

I have a pretty high opinion of myself (which by itself is something we’re not supposed to admit, but it’s just us here, right?) and yet, if I engaged in this question of naming the things I love, earnestly and for days, I bet it would have taken me a really, REALLY long time to put myself on the list.

What about you?

This isn’t a criticism, by the way. We’re taught to think of ourselves as inherently unworthy, needing of fixing up, and maybe someday, finally, if you do enough “self-help” or buy the right things, perhaps then, we’ll be good enough to love unconditionally.

So it’s no wonder it might take us a while to add ourselves to a list of things we love.

The second meme was a bit more manageable to chew…

My dear friend Kendra tagged me in it and I took it as a challenge. Could I, the advocate for recovering Good Girls and champion of Asking for What You Want, publicly name 5 things I love about myself in front of a bunch of people I don’t know on the internet? Kendra went first, which helped.

Here’s what I wrote.

After I posted it, my mind swam… what would people think? Was it arrogant to say that? Was I inviting trouble by talking about my boobs? The self-doubt monsters growled their growls, but I didn’t let them take over.

Self-love, as it turns out, is a practice — one I recommend you engage in at every possible opportunity. It can feel intimidating at first, but it’s so worth it to practice. See what I shared, and share your 5 self-loves here.