Feeling low about yourself? Always feeling that you’re not good enough? The world of low self-esteem can be simply hard going on you! Raise your levels of self-esteem with these handy tips and techniques.
What Is Self-esteem?
Self-esteem is a particular measure of how you see yourself, how you think and how you feel about yourself in relation to other people you have contact with and even passers-by in the street. If you are constantly thinking that other people are better than you in all ways, you will as a result of this feel a lack of confidence, have some feelings of anxiety, and have a general negative outlook on your life.
As I always say to clients this is where you are being unfair on you, would you allow your friends or a stranger to make you feel that way? Having this negative outlook on yourself means you can’t and aren’t giving the best of you in situations that need it and you may find life much more of a struggle that it actually needs to be.
So how you see yourself is your self-esteem. A lot of people get this confused with self-confidence but in order to have self-confidence your self-esteem needs to be in the right place first to help you grow emotionally.
Why Do I Have Low Self-esteem?
If you’re feeling that you have suddenly changed how you feel about yourself or if you’ve been struggling for some time there could have been something that happened to cause it. This could have gradually happened over time or it could have been a one off incident that brought your levels of self-esteem down.
Things that can cause you to have low self-esteem are:
- Disapproving Parental Figures
If you spent your childhood years being told that whatever you did wasn’t good enough, you are more likely to grow into an adult that doesn’t have a good positive self-image. Maybe your parents or guardian or anybody you saw highly told you no matter what you did was wrong it becomes difficult to feel confident and comfortable in your own skin later in life. - Uninvolved Or Uninterested Parental Figures
Having parental figures who don’t motivate you or don’t pay attention it can be hard to imagine that you deserve more for yourself. This can often make you feel forgotten, unimportant and not worth noticing. - Bullying
Bullying can happen at any age and is not restricted to the playground! There are many cases of work place bullying and if you are bullied at any point in your life this can make you again feel unworthy, unnoticed if you don’t receive any guidance or help from anybody. Being bullied can make you become withdrawn and unwilling to better yourself. - Trauma
If you have experienced any trauma in your life such as physical, sexual or emotional abuse this can cause low self-esteem. Being forced into an emotional state against your will it can make it very hard for you to trust and like the world. You may have feelings of “it’s your fault” that these traumas happened to you when in real fact none of them were your fault in any way. These events cause your self view to be low with a feeling it is too hard to change things for you. - Society/Media
I’m sure you all knew that this one was going to be on the list of what causes self-esteem. It’s no secret whatsoever that people in the media/magazines etc. are all the same as us in reality but with the help of airbrushing and lighting and makeup artists they look like these amazing wondrous beings that we would all love to be like. This kind of self-esteem issues caused by media is getting worse too both males and females feel like they can’t simply live up to what is out there.
Thanks to this sort of media being so readily available it’s easier and easier for young children to get hold of making this unfair comparison to start at young age.
- Relationships
Your relationships with other people may feed into your low self-esteem if they are on a negative basis. - Stress
If you are under a lot of pressure and you are finding it hard to cope with things this can lead to feelings of low self-worth.
These are just some of the possible causes of low self-esteem and I could write about them all in a single article each however just because you may have experienced some of these as a child or even as an adult it does not mean that you must be tainted by them for the rest of your life.
How Can I Build My Self-esteem?
There are some little things you can try out to help build your self-esteem from now on.
- Do Something You Enjoy
Doing something you enjoy can gradually increase your self-esteem it can be anything from paid work, volunteer work a hobby or even caring for somebody. - Work
Having a job can help you to build friendships and identity with a steady routine, you need to feel confident and supported in your work for you to be able to build your self-esteem levels. - Hobbies
Having a hobby can help you to escape and grow your confidence, if you start off with something you have an interest in and gradually begin to do this regular you will become better at it in turn building your self-esteem even more - Look After Yourself
If you look after yourself fully you will begin to feel better about yourself. Ensure you’re getting enough sleep as a lack of sleep can cause low feelings about yourself. Taking up a form of exercise will help to release the happy endorphins anything from simple walks, exercise classes or anything just to get you moving. Also you need to ensure you have a good balanced diet, eating the right foods can help with your self-esteem as you will begin to feel healthier and happier. - Set Goals
Set yourself some realistic goals be sure not to set them too high in case of not being able to reach them which will in turn reduce your self-esteem, if you can set small goals you are more likely to reach you will continue to have a sense of achievement. Setting goals also helps to keep us motivated and on track.
If you can start using these tips from today and just start to make small changes in your life you will continue to see change, you never know how far a change can really go!
There’s an old Marylin Monroe quote that I think we should all follow and be our true selves and not try to be like somebody else.
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are”
Get out there and be the best you, you can be.
