Improving your self-esteem
How we see and value ourselves is called self-esteem, this is based on our opinions and beliefs about ourselves. The way we see ourselves has a big impact on our lives, and can affect our ability to make decisions and try new or challenging things. Self-esteem also plays a big part in how we value ourselves, believe in our worth and how we accept our mistakes without unfairly blaming ourselves.
There are a variety of different things that can have an effect on someone’s self-esteem, and these things are different for everyone. Factors such as experiencing bullying, abuse, prejudice, discrimination or stigma can negatively impact self-esteem. Other factors that can reduce self-esteem include stress, physical and mental health problems, appearance concerns, problems with work or study and difficulty with money, housing and finding employment.
A lot of people may experience low self-esteem at some point of their life. Here are some tips that you can use when you aren’t feeling so great and need to give yourself a bit more love:
Take some time out to reflect on yourself. Think about what you value in your life, what things make you happy and what self-esteem means to you. When you identify these things you can then identify if you are actually basing your self-worth on the things that matter to you.
Identify your strengths and demonstrate them. You can do this by setting tasks and events relating to those strengths. For example, if you think you are a good cook you may want to throw a dinner party to demonstrate your cooking ability.
Learn to be assertive. Assertiveness is having and displaying a confident personality. You can learn assertiveness by taking time to think before agreeing to things and saying no confidently if you don’t. This can be difficult when you are not used to it, so it’s important to be patient and keep trying.
Build positive relationships. It’s important to build relationships with people who appreciate you and offer encouragement.
Accepting challenges is a good way to help you to improve your self-esteem. Setting yourself small goals such as trying a new recipe or attending an exercise class. Achieving these goals and celebrating your success can help to increase your self-estem and also add to your list of achievements when it’s time to reflect on them.
Improving your self-esteem can have a large positive effect on your life. You can feel comfortable and confident in yourself and your abilities, be more accepting of new challenges and become more resilient. Having high self-esteem can enable you to make the most of the good times in your live and cope with the difficult ones, and will also improve the quality of your relationships with others. We are known to be our own worst critics, however implementing some of the tips above can really help you to be less harsh on yourself and love yourself a bit more.