When was the last time you praised yourself? When was the last time you praised yourself to someone else – not on text, phone call or Snapchat?

Whether it’s patting yourself on the back because you did something awesome, snoozed three times instead of four, or just want to tell yourself that you’re one hot piece of ass (because you are), why didn’t you?

With all other aspects of our culture becoming increasingly transparent, it seems like self-love is lagging behind, and it needs to start picking up the pace. Equality and sexual empowerment seem to be winning the race, so why isn’t self-love running with the leader pack? Do we really want the push for self-confidence to lose the race?

There’s obviously many benefits to being a humble human being, which Kendrick was so kind as to remind us, but I think there’s a certain extent to which we have to refrain from openly praising ourselves in order to avoid being perceived as cocky and over-confident. But if we can’t express how proud we are of ourselves out loud, where is our society even headed?

It’s kind of like the news. Approximately 97.53% (made up statistic courtesy of yours truly) of every segment ever is dedicated to bad news. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of good news happening around the globe – believe it or not, so why is it not broadcast to the world in the same way negative news is? Imagine turning on the television at 6pm to hear a whole ten minute reel of quality, heart-warming and inspiring events… with the occasional negative slot for the sake of being informed and vigilant. But seriously, we need more of the good stuff.

I can think of a whole heap of reasons why I refrain from praising myself to my friends, and the main one is the possibility of being thought of as a gloater. I end up getting all caught up in worrying if they think I’m full of it, so instead of revelling in my happiness, I end up bottling it up with no release. Just like building up your anger, that’s not good for anyone.

For us to start changing our mindsets about how we respond to proclamations of joy and make it more common practice to build each other up, rather than not, it starts with you. You take the time to compliment your friends and family, so why do you leave yourself out? Affirmations are great, but I’ve found that I end up spending all of my time trying to memorise the words and none of my time actually moving forward with my self-loving. How about we take it back to basics and take the time to remind ourselves about the simple things we love about ourselves, or how proud we are are of them. It’ll be like opening up the floodgates to a never-ending dam of happiness.

Recognise the fact that your small everyday wins actually do contribute to the bigger picture. You’re awesome and you make the world a better place just by waking up in the morning. So why the hell not tell someone how great you are? They may not care, but you’ll be setting in motion a chain of events that will make your environment a brighter place, one self-appreciation compliment at a time. Let’s be proud of ourselves. Let’s be proud to love ourselves. *love reacts only*

Words by Amber De Luca – Tao

IG – @amber_wintour

Art by Samantha Doyle

IG – @shantasam