Love your mind, love yourself: Calm and Match partner up on World Mental Health Day to help you cultivate self-love
This World Mental Health Day (October 10), Calm and Match are coming together with a shared purpose: to champion the importance of self-love and mental wellbeing in creating healthy relationships, less loneliness, and a more fulfilling life.
Oscar Wilde once said that “to love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.” But that’s easier said than done. For many of us, treating ourselves with kindness (let alone loving ourselves) can feel like a stretch.
Today’s singles are tackling the loneliness epidemic, with more than half of Americans reporting feeling lonely and increasingly isolated. So how can those of us in the dating world feel best supported when it comes to long-term mental health and wellbeing both in and out of our relationships? The answer is in the quality of those relationships – with others and with ourselves.
Cultivating self-love isn’t all rainbows and butterflies — it can be a tough gig. It involves acknowledging our own inherent value, accepting our whole selves (including those “imperfections” we’d rather erase), and treating ourselves with kindness, even when the inner critic is on full volume.
That’s why Calm and Match are offering 5 full-length Calm sessions designed to ease you into the practice of self-love so you can reap the benefits for your wellbeing and your relationships in the long run.
Today’s singles are increasingly prioritizing self-care and approaching dating thoughtfully to build relationships in a healthy way. According to Match’s 12th annual Singles in America study, 87% of singles say it’s important to prioritize your mental health, and 53% of singles report that dating helps them learn how to be a better version of themselves, so they are leaning in to self-care and a vast majority want to date someone who does the same.
In fact, taking care of your mental health can both make you a better dater, and help attract people with similar value systems, particularly those who also care about psychological stability. It’s about choosing to take care of yourself and developing a strong sense of self-worth that isn’t tied to external validation — all things that can be hard in today’s world.
Self-love is good for your health
Additional findings from Match’s annual Singles in America study show that less than half of young singles felt excited or enthusiastic about dating last year, with 64% of online daters reporting they felt burnt out in their dating lives. To help combat this burnout, self-love (via self-compassion) can both decrease anxiety and depression and increase optimism and connectedness. So not only is self-love good for your health, it’s good for your relationships, too.
Like any relationship, the relationship you have with yourself can change daily. Some days, self-love will come easy, and others, it’ll feel unattainable. And that’s okay. Most singles take mental health seriously and want to actively work toward a healthy and happy future. In fact, additional Singles in America data shows:
2 in 3 singles want to improve their mental health
81% of singles report engaging in self-care at least monthly
Nearly two-thirds of young singles are open to mindfulness and therapy
That’s why many people find that the benefits of a self-love practice often translate into their connections with others, romantic or otherwise. In that way, self-love can offer a gateway towards healthier relationships.
When we recognize our worth, it becomes easier to communicate our needs, and draw boundaries that protect us. When we treat ourselves with love, we demonstrate how we expect to be treated. And when we accept ourselves as we are, we give others permission to do the same.
How to start a self-love practice
Self-love is a practice. And like any practice, it takes exactly that: practice. There’s no “self-love” destination to reach and loving yourself fully every day isn’t the aim either (which is just as well, because most of us would fail on day one — we’re human, after all).
The aim is to commit and recommit to the action of self-love every day until it becomes a habit. And when we begin to see self-love as a daily practice that deserves prioritizing, the act of loving yourself does get easier.
Remember, the action of self-love can look different for everyone. For one person, it might look like saying “no” instead of “yes” or carving out a moment for self-care even when time feels stretched. For another person, the action of self-love might translate into starting the day with meditation or limiting screen time.
💙 We invite you to make time for one of our self-love sessions below each day for the next week and notice the impact they have on how you feel towards yourself.
We hope this inspires you to take care of yourself and embrace the relationship you have with yourself and with others. When you have a regular self-love practice, you’ll begin to notice that it has a profound ripple effect on the other relationships in your life.
Self-Love Sessions
Learn to be kinder to yourself with this meditation from Dr. Eric Lopez
Develop a kind presence towards yourself with this gentle practice.
Cultivate compassion for yourself with Tara Brach’s Radical Self-Compassion session
Radical compassion is our evolutionary capacity to include all living beings in our heart and to actively express our care. In this meditation, you learn RAIN (recognize-allow-investigate-nurture), an applied meditation for cultivating mindfulness-based compassion.
Learn to love yourself loudly with Self Love Bomb from Jeff Warren
Extending ourselves compassion when times are tough can be…tough. In this meditation, practice sending some love to you, from you.
Love yourself to sleep with Generative Piano for Sleep
Let this music help you unwind and drift into a peaceful slumber, accompanied by an ethereal piano composition in a relaxing nighttime desert scene.
Move with love in this Love In, Love Out movement session with Mel Mah
In this gentle movement session, practice a "love in, love out" rhythm, taking a little love in and sending a little love out to others.
To support you in falling in love with yourself:
And falling in love with others:
Match Offer Terms: Open to individuals who are a legal resident of the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec), are not currently a subscriber of Match and are age 18 or older. Begins October 10, 2023 at 3am PT. Ends the sooner of 4/9/24 at 5pm PTor when 100,000 discounted subscriptions have been redeemed. First come, first served for eligible claims. Limit one entry per entrant. Match subscriptions are not transferable.
To be eligible to receive 40% off a Match subscription package, you must be one of the first 100,000 people to redeem the Match offer during the offer period through 4/9/24 at 5pm PT. [ML2]
Claims subject to verification by Match. Match may cancel, suspend or modify this promotion if Match determines, in its sole discretion, that any error, omission, fraud, technical failure, tampering or other factor beyond Match’s reasonable control may impair the integrity of the promotion. Match may, in its sole discretion, disqualify any individual it finds to be disrupting the intended operation of the promotion. By participating, you agree to release and hold harmless Match Group, LLC and its parent and affiliates (including officers, employees and agents) from all claims, demands, liabilities, damages and costs whatsoever related to this promotion.
Calm your mind. Change your life.
Mental health is hard. Getting support doesn't have to be. The Calm puts the tools to feel better in your back pocket, with personalized content to manage stress and anxiety, get better sleep, and feel more present in your life.
