What you think and feel about your life is something you get to decide. It’s a choice. And it’s an important one because it determines your reality.

Maybe you’ve made a few mistakes, and things haven’t always (or rarely) gone as you hoped or planned. But deciding life is a gift filled with joy and opportunities changes everything. That perspective builds confidence and resilience and imparts a sense of hope and inner peace. 

The bottom line is that you can either lack appreciation for your life or love it.  

Here are five ways loving and appreciating your life make everything better. 

1. You’re Authentic

The day you stop seeking validation or living for the approval of others is the day that everything changes. You no longer feel worried or anxious about what others think. 

When you decide to love your life and appreciate who you are, you feel at peace and calm; you’re living on your terms, not someone else’s.

When you love your life – when you care about it, you feel responsible for living it; you strive to be authentic so you can savor every moment. 

You live with a sense of freedom and empowerment. 

You realize what matters most to you. Life isn’t about the hustle anymore. It’s about letting your soul breathe every day and enjoying the little things that add value to your experience, whether reading a book, learning a new language, listening to music, or slowing down to enjoy a few minutes of meditation.

It could even be that you invest more of your life in supporting a cause and making a difference. 

Loving your life makes you a better steward of your time, energy, and money. You will likely find yourself engaging in more substantial activities, like volunteering and doing things that make the world a better place for others. 

Loving your life unlocks your true self.   

2. You Stop Pleasing People

If you want to be miserable, be a people-pleaser. What feelings, dreams, beliefs, and opinions are you keeping to yourself to keep the peace? 

Living to please others so you can either gain or keep their approval isn’t worth it because it takes a toll on your emotional, mental, and physical well-being. 

People-pleasing behavior imprisons your soul and steals your joy.

It’s impossible to be your authentic self when you’re obsessed with disappointing others. If that sounds like you, it’s time to ask what you love more, your life, or what people think about you and your life.

You shouldn’t be rude and disrespectful. But people have their own life to live without trying to live yours. 

You only get one life. Don’t waste it trying to please people.

3. You Feel Fulfilled Today

If you need or require something to be happy, you’ll never be happy.

When you love your life, you feel fulfilled and content today; you’re enough. That doesn’t mean that you lack a desire to grow and become better. It means you don’t believe the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. 

You appreciate the present moment because you know it’s all you have. And although you have wants and needs and set dreams and goals, you’re grateful right now for who and what you are because you love and appreciate your life. 

4. You Adjust, Adapt, and Bounce Back 

They say people don’t like change. That’s only half true. People like change that they want but don’t like change that they don’t want. People are afraid of the unknown; uncertainty fills them with worry. 

But since life is always in a state of change, we must make peace with the fact that our lives will always be affected to some measure by change; so we must love our life, even when things are changing, because those changes can add new meaning and opportunities to our life experience. 

Not all change is bad, and even the “bad” change we’d rather not have can become something that supports our lives somehow. We can treat change as a blessing or a burden. It can be an anchor or a stepping stone.

Change is a chance to meet new people, discover new places, try a new experience, learn new skills, and make new friends.

5. You Discover That Perfection Is A Low Standard

Perfection is a myth; it’s unobtainable. Besides, no one is perfect, even the most beautiful people in the world who grace glossy magazine covers whose imperfections have been airbrushed away. 

There are no perfect relationships, marriages, jobs, families, or people. 

Never let the façade of someone else’s “perfection” make you feel less-than or question your self-worth.

When you love yourself, you free yourself from the prison of comparing yourself to others and their perfect lives, bodies, or relationships. 

Embracing the fact that you are a work in progress that’ll never be perfect helps you appreciate your life in a whole new way.

You are imperfectly perfect in this moment because you’re constantly learning and growing from a place of authenticity, ever-evolving.

Your life is your life. If you don’t love it, who will?

One of the most important, liberating decisions you can make is to decide right now that you love your life and that it matters to you. We all want to feel like we matter to someone, especially those we love and who are important to us. But the first step is deciding that we matter. The day we decide to love our life is the day everything begins to change for the better. Why not give it a try right now by saying, “I love me.” Better yet, say, “I like me.” And then look in the mirror and say it again tomorrow and the next day and the next until it becomes real in your heart.