When we were kids, we went to school to learn. For five days a week and for seven to eight hours a day we would walk into a classroom, sit down at a desk, and listen to our teachers as they stood before us and taught us different subjects. We learned that two plus two equals four. We learned that I came before E except after C and in words that say eigh like in neighbor and heigh. For those of us in America, we walked into class and were taught that George Washington was our first president and that the stars on our flag stand for the 50 states and that the stripes on the flag stand for the 13 original colonies. When it was time for science we learned that the chemical compound for water is H2O and that it contains one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. We went to school and we learned. This is what we were supposed to do, so this is what we did. We learned and learned until we knew the information so well that we could recite it off without even thinking.

We went through this kind of learning and this kind of drilling with our traditional education, but we didn’t seem to go through this same kind of instruction when it came to other matters. We never spent hours a day learning how to do our taxes. We didn’t get schooling on how to change the tires on our cars. We didn’t take lessons on how to deal with people that only want to see us fail. We didn’t have regular instruction about the importance of being kind to others. And we definitely didn’t have lessons five days a week for seven hours a day about the importance of being kind to ourselves.

Some of us did learn these lessons on our own. For instance, we may have been taught the importance of loving ourselves. We could have had family that taught us this, but because it wasn’t constant like the constant learning that we received for our traditional subjects, we may have found it difficult to learn to love ourselves in the wake of outside forces that tried to teach us otherwise. If you were one of those people who tried to learn to love yourself but never really were able to master it for yourself, just know that you can start to master it now!

Take some time to really think about what you love about yourself. This part may be hard to do, because like I said early, most of us aren’t being constantly taught to love ourselves. And since we aren’t being drilled to do this, we have to take responsibility and drill ourselves. We have to teach ourselves to love ourselves, which takes some work. So, once you’ve finished thinking about everything that you love about yourself, write down those things on a sheet of paper. And positive thinker, it doesn’t matter how inconsequential those things that you love about yourself are. Just write them down. If you love how your nose crinkles whenever you laugh too hard write that down. If you love that you can bring a smile to the saddest of individuals just by telling a good joke then write that down. If you love that you’re able to see the best in any given situation then write that down. Write it down positive thinker!

And the next part is wear the drilling comes in. Everyday I want you to look at that list and study it. I want you to study it just like you studied your notes before a big exam. When you were in school, you would go over what you learned over and over again until you learned it, and that’s what I want you to do. Learn it so that you know that list as well as you know your name. And don’t just know it. Believe it. Learn it so that whenever you’re feeling bad about yourself you can bring up one of these things that you love about yourself to your consciousness so that it can make you feel a little better. And remember, just because you have a list of things that you love about yourself doesn’t mean that you have to stop adding more items to your list. If you think of something new that you love about yourself then add that to the list. And once you add it to the list, make sure you study that new piece of information. In school, cumulative finals encompassed everything that you learned from start to finish, so I want you to do the same. As you discover more information about yourself that you love, don’t forget the old things. Embrace the new things that you love, but make sure to keep holding on to the old things that you love about yourself as well.

If you were not one of those kids who were constantly being told about the importance of loving yourself, that doesn’t have to stop you from learning to love yourself now. It’s never too late to start learning that lesson. Love yourself positive thinker! You owe it to yourself!