Self Esteem

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. ”
– M. Scott Peck

Self-esteem reflects what we think about ourselves. It means we “esteem” and have a good opinion about ourselves. self-esteem has a significant prospective impact on our life experiences and not the reverse. Possessing little self-regard can lead people to become depressed, to fall short of their potential, or to tolerate abusive relationships and situations.

Signs of Healthy Self-Esteem

There are some simple ways to tell if you have healthy self-esteem. You probably have healthy self-esteem if you are more likely to:

• Avoid dwelling on past, negative experiences
• Express your needs
• Feel confident
• Have a positive outlook on life
• Say “no” when you want to
• See overall strengths and weaknesses and accept them

Causes of low Self Esteem

Feelings of low or high esteem often start of when one is a child.

• Teen pregnancy
• Dropping out of school
• Earlier sexual activity
• Criminal behavior
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Poor academic performance
• Dysfunctional workplace
• Disapproval at home
• Bad relationship

How to improve on low self esteem

Identify and Challenge Your Negative Beliefs

The first step is to identify and then challenge your beliefs. Noticing the kind of thoughts that you have about yourself. eg “I have no friends ” look for evidence that contradict the statements.

Identify positive things about yourself

Write them down so that when you are at a low moment you can always go back and remind yourself that you have a lot going on. Internal positive dialogue is good for you and you can improve yourself esteem this way.

Give yourself A break

When you encounter feelings of not being enough or failure give yourself a break, we all have days when we are not at our best. Dust yourself and try again.

Have positive relationships

If you find certain people tend to bring you down, try to spend less time with them, or tell them how you feel about their words or actions. Try to build relationships with people who are positive and who appreciate you.

Learn to be assertive

Being assertive is about respecting other people’s opinions and needs, and expecting the same from them.

One trick is to look at other people who act assertively and copy what they do.

Take that compliment

Don’t resolve with denial or self -insult when you get a compliment. Learn to accept it. When someone tells you have done a good job they probably mean it. It shows they acknowledge you hard work and effort. So learn to accept compliments.

Remember if you have an issue you are currently dealing with, do not hesitate to reach out . Your mental health matters.

---

Discover more from Foi Counseling Centre

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.