You’re hereby invited to join an exclusive club. I predict that membership in this club will give you benefits that are meant specifically for you. Believe me: when you apply yourself to this club’s guidelines, you’ll be sure to feel better than you’ve ever felt before. It’s the difference between drifting through life and moving with purpose. So, if you’re ready – here are the guidelines for joining the Self-Love Success Club.

If you’re in a relationship or part of a team or a family, it’s important to be good to the others involved. But relationship experts report the best way to be good to another person is to first take good care of yourself. Before you begin pouring into others, you need to make sure you’re not running yourself dry. Here are some important guidelines for you to follow; to be good to yourself and create your healthiest possible life:

Healthy Foods for a Healthy Body

Your body needs a regular diet of balanced and healthy meals to get enough vitamins and nutrients for it to thrive. A healthy diet not only helps you reach or maintain a healthy weight, but it also helps you find your maximum level of endurance. A healthy food plan can help you prevent many common illnesses and may also go a long way toward returning you to health if you should get sick.

Beginning and maintaining a healthy food plan is an important component of the Self-Love Success Club. When you shop for your family’s meals for the week, they should include a variety of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and lots of fresh fruits and green vegetables. Including healthy sweet treats, such as a delicious acai bowl or a savory brown rice bowl is a great way to be sure your body stays as healthy as possible. If you need to get more specific details about your food choices, you should ask your family doctor for nutrition advice.

Protect Your Home From Asbestos Damage

Prioritizing healthy food choices can help you have a healthy body, but members of the Self-Love Success Club also need to live in homes that don’t put you at risk for the illness that can be caused by asbestos. Older homes are more likely to contain asbestos lining, but it may still be present in newer homes, in some amounts. Asbestos is a risk factor in developing mesothelioma (cancer in the lining of the chest) or asbestosis (a serious lung disease). To be certain you don’t have asbestos in your home, you’ll need to have your walls, roofs, or flooring evaluated by a professional.

Current construction guidelines require any housing materials containing asbestos must be labeled as such. Small amounts of asbestos aren’t harmful. However, to be safe, if you suspect you have asbestos in your home, you can have your home analyzed by a certified professional who can take samples of any housing materials to be certain the asbestos level in your home isn’t too high. Feeling good physically will keep you feeling good emotionally and mentally.

Be Sure You’re Driving a Safe Car

To keep yourself as safe as possible, you’ll also need to be certain your car is in good working order. Getting your engine’s oil changed at an auto shop every few months is the minimum that should be done to make sure your car is safe. Members of the Self-Love Success Club should make a checklist for basic car maintenance. When you go to get an oil change, you can ask the mechanic to check on the most important aspects of car maintenance.

These include the quality and alignment of the wheels, and the level of your fluids – especially your engine’s oil. Two other important types of fluid to check are coolant (to maintain an ideal engine temperature) and brake fluid. When you check your brake fluid, be sure to also check the functionality of your brakes. You should also check to be sure your headlights and taillights are working.

Protect Your Skin From Potential Damage From UV Rays

Ultraviolet rays from the sun can damage the elastin fibers in your skin and can cause it to sag. Those rays can also put you at risk for melanoma and basal cell carcinoma (two types of skin cancers). Dermatologists say you’re in equal danger of skin damage in both summer and winter – because ultraviolet rays can also affect your skin using indirect sunlight.

With that in mind, it may be easy to conclude that you also remain at risk for damage from UV rays indoors. To add skin protection to your protective “armor” as part of the Self Love Success Club, it’s important to invest in yourself with professional window treatments. Solar shades or solar blinds can furnish the equivalent of sunglasses for your windows. Some of these window treatments will provide you with a clear view – while still blocking up to 99% of ultraviolet rays from entering your home. Other window treatments can feature a level of tinting that changes according to the amount of light entering the room.

Be Sure the Air You Breathe is Clear

Since we can’t live without breathing in the air (to get oxygen), our air must be as pure as possible. When you’re outdoors, pollution or changes in the area’s air quality can enter your lungs and damage your lungs. If we breathe in pollutants, although they first cause damage to the respiratory system, that damage can quickly be passed to the heart.

Just as ultraviolet rays can bring their destructive properties indoors, so can polluted air. One preventive measure you can add to your list of health measures for the Self Love Success Club is to keep your heating and cooling systems up to date. Make sure you change your home’s air filters at least each quarter. If you have a problem with heating, ventilation, or air conditioning, you should contact a professional who is licensed in HVAC repair (heating, ventilation, and air conditioner).

Protect Your Hearing Level

Returning to the subject of maintaining your physical health, don’t hesitate to get a hearing test if it becomes apparent you are having heating difficulties. Your membership in the Self-Love Success Club means you deserve to hear the voices of your family and friends and enjoy music and television. As we age, the sharpness of our senses – including our hearing – often begins to decline. By going for a test and getting a hearing aid, you’re doing yourself a big favor.

It’s important to remember a decrease or loss in hearing has more than just a physical effect on you. Being unable to hear the sounds and voices you love can seriously impact your mental health. When hearing problems adversely affect our socialization and communication, this can result in a sad and lonely life.

Keep Your Home Free From Mold Damage

Thinking again of the purity of the air you breathe, it’s important to protect yourself from the damage mold can do inside your home. When water damages the interior of a home or building, the dampness remaining will be a good setting for growing mold. Once mold begins to grow, spores will break off from it and travel through the air in your home. These spores can cause severe respiratory problems- especially for people who struggle with respiratory problems.

If your home has been affected by mold, you may begin to experience some physical symptoms. These symptoms can include headaches, muscle stiffness, and joint pain. To continue your participation in the Self-Love Success Club, you need to find a business that provides water damage repair.

Be Confident When You Smile

Since you’re taking so much time to care for yourself and protect your health, you shouldn’t be afraid to show it – with a smile. If you’re a bit insecure about the alignment of your teeth, it may result in a tendency to hide your smile. Continuing your participation in the Self-Love Success Club means investing in regaining the stunning smile you deserve. Although some people may need to have dentures to repair their alignment problems, others may take advantage of a newer type of treatment- called Invisalign.

The Invisalign service will apply clear liners over your teeth – and provides pressure to the teeth; to produce proper dental alignment. Check with your family dentist to see if their office provides this service. If they do, your dentist will do your first fitting – and you’ll receive your first Invisalign tray. These trays are invisible and can be removed.

How the Invisalign Process Progresses

Every few weeks, you’ll get a tighter tray. These trays will slowly move your teeth into place. You don’t need to visit the dentist for each change in tray size, although your dentist may request periodic check-up visits. The alignment trays stay on your teeth by attachments the dentist may place on your teeth.

The Invisalign process is not painful since the alignment takes place over time. The trays are usually kept on your teeth for 22 hours per day. The length of time for Invisalign to align your teeth varies. You’ll be able to watch your progress as your smile slowly blossoms. Show off your perfected smile!

Speak Up When a Mistake Happens

It’s both important and natural to place your trust in your doctor and in all the members of your healthcare team. Unfortunately, healthcare professionals sometimes make errors in judgment that can result in an injury or even disability. If this happens, you have the right to speak up for your rights – and to have the effects of the mistake repaired or to be compensated.

If this happens, a member of the Self-Love Success Club shouldn’t hesitate to find and to consult a medical malpractice attorney from your community. In addition to the standard law school training, medical malpractice attorneys know about medical procedures and the laws in your area about injury compensation. They’ll be a resource and support to you as you walk through this challenging episode of your life.

Prioritize Your Medical and Dental Appointments

All the efforts you’re making to show yourself love will help you show your best self. However, please remember you aren’t alone in this quest. You’ll need a family doctor to act as the head of your healthcare team. That doctor will have all your health records including blood work, X-rays, medications, and a list of your medical history.

Let your medical providers join in the planning phase of your activities for the Self-Love Success Club. They will have valuable information about the steps you need to take. In addition to asking your family doctor for their input for your health plan, be sure to include an expert in dentistry and a mental health professional.

Take Time to Be Your True Self

All these suggestions are all about you – and some of them will require some effort. But the best part of showing the world your true self means that it’s okay to take time to enjoy yourself. Even if you’re on a mission to maintain healthy food choices, enjoying an occasional treat is okay. After all, the true essence of self-love can easily include eating and drinking the things you love (in moderation.)

If you’re trying to include an exercise routine, don’t forget to include some playful activities. You can skip your spin class occasionally and take a walk on the beach, go dancing, or play Frisbee. If there’s an activity you’d like to try – like going to a trampoline park or learning Parkour – then go ahead and treat yourself to it. Most of all, feel free to take a rest when you need one – and don’t feel guilty about it.

Your life is full of promise, and you’re in charge of keeping that promise, to yourself. The ultimate expression of self-love will become your ultimate badge of success if you put your heart and soul into it. Joining the club doesn’t come with membership, but it requires a promise to yourself to live the best life. Take this challenge – and show the world who you are.