3 Questions That Will Give You All the Answers About Your Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is the way you view yourself as a person. It’s your opinion about your own attributes such as how intelligent or trustworthy you are, how kind you are, how beautiful you are, and whether you like yourself or not.
Why is Self-Esteem Important?
While you may think that your self-esteem is something you can easily live without, the truth is that it’s a crucial part of our mental health. Low self-esteem is linked to a number of other mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders.
You may be wondering how something as simple as how you view yourself could lead to such serious consequences. Well, self-esteem is a bit like a filter that’s placed over your thoughts and feelings. It affects how you view yourself, the people around you and the situations you find yourself in. If you have low self-esteem, you’re likely to be skeptical and critical of yourself, which can negatively impact your mental health. On the other hand, someone with high self-esteem is likely to be more positive, outgoing, and likely to take chances.
How to Build Self-Esteem?
You need to understand what self-esteem is and what it isn’t. As mentioned above, it’s not the same as confidence, although the two are often confused. Confidence is about being sure in your abilities to perform certain tasks, whereas self-esteem is about being happy with who you are as a person.
You can’t build self-esteem overnight, and it’s not something you can simply force. Instead, you need to take small steps every day to help improve your self-esteem. For many people, this will be a long journey, and you may not ever achieve 100% self-esteem, but that’s okay.
Are There Any Tips to Increase Self-Esteem?
- Start with your thoughts and feelings. What are the things you think about yourself? Does your inner monologue consist of positive affirmations or is it littered with negative talk? If it’s the latter, it’s time to change that.
- Try writing down the things you like about yourself every day. Not only will this help you to remember your positive qualities, but writing them down allows you to see them on paper, helping you to cement them in your head.
- Surround yourself with positive people. We can’t control what our family and friends say to us, but we can limit the amount of negative information we’re exposed to by avoiding the wrong people.
- Exercise. Exercising, whether it’s going for a run, lifting weights, or digging in the garden, has many benefits, especially for those who suffer from low self-esteem.
- Eat a healthy diet. Eating a balanced diet helps to keep your body healthy and your brain functioning at its best, both of which can be negatively impacted by a bad diet.
- Start a gratitude journal. Studies show that people who keep gratitude journals are happier and more optimistic than those who don’t.
- Meditate. Meditation is more than just a method to help you relax. It’s also been proven to help people with low self-esteem by reducing the levels of cortisol in their bodies.
- Get to know yourself. Self-exploration is the key to understanding who you are as a person. Take the time to get to know your strengths and weaknesses, your likes and dislikes, and your passions.
It might not be as simple as you think, but building self-esteem takes time. You can’t expect to be happy with yourself overnight, but with a little bit of dedication, you can increase your self-esteem to a level where you’re happy to be you.
This article is written by a therapist from Sensera – a self-help app that provides daily CBT audio sessions and exercises. The app helps people deal with a variety of mental issues (anxiety, low self-esteem, relationship problems). Download Sensera now to become happier!
