Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself, or your opinion about yourself. Everyone has moments when they feel a little depressed or it is difficult for them to believe in themselves. However, in the long term, this can lead to problems, including issues with mental health, such as depression or anxiety. Self-esteem is often the result of life experience, especially what happened to us in childhood. However, you can increase self-esteem at any age. In this material we are talking about some actions that you can take to increase it.
Understanding self-esteem
Some people consider self-esteem with their inner voice (or a dialogue with themselves) - a voice that tells you whether you are good enough to do something or achieve. Self-assessment is actually connected with how we appreciate yourself, and our ideas about who we are and what we are capable of.
Why do people have low self-esteem?
There are many reasons why someone can have understated self-esteem. However, it often begins in childhood, perhaps with the feeling that you could not justify expectations. It may also be the result of adult experience, such as complex relationships, personal or at work. There are several ways to increase self-esteem:
1. Determine your negative beliefs and challenge them
The first step is to reveal, and then challenge your negative beliefs about yourself. Pay attention to your thoughts about yourself. For example, you might think: "I am not smart enough for this" or "I have no friends." When you do it, look for evidence contrary to these allegations. Write down both the approval and evidence and continue to look at them to remind yourself that your negative ideas about yourself do not correspond to reality.
Start with the record of what is about you are talking about
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2. Determine the positive opinion about yourself
It is also nice to write positive moments about yourself, for example, good sports qualities or pleasant things that people talked about you. When you begin to feel depressed, look back to these things and remind yourself that you have a lot of good. In general, a positive internal dialogue is most of the increase in your self-esteem. If you catch yourself on what you say something like "I'm not good enough" or "I am a loser", you can change the situation with the small, saying: "I can win it" and "I can become more confident." At first, you will catch yourself on what is back back to old negative habits, but with regular efforts you can start feeling more positive and increase self-esteem.
3. Build positive relationships and avoid negative
You are probably discovering that there are certain people and certain relationships that make you feel better than others. If there are people who make you feel bad, try to avoid them. Build relationships with people who make you feel good, and avoid relationships that pull you down.
4. Make a break
It is not necessary to be perfect every hour and every day. You do not even need to constantly feel good. Self-esteem varies from the situation to the situation, from the day to the day and from an hour to the hour. Some people feel relaxed and positively with friends and colleagues, but awkward and shy with strangers. Others may feel fully controlling themselves at work, but they are experiencing difficulties in social terms (or vice versa). Make a break. We all have times when we feel a little depressed or it is harder for us to keep faith in yourself. The main thing is not to be too strict. Be kind to yourself and not too critical.
Rejoice yourself with small things
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Avoid critics yourself with respect to others, because it can strengthen your negative views, as well as give other people (perhaps, false) negative opinion about you. You can help raise your self-esteem, treating yourself when you manage to do something hard, or just for how you coped with a particularly bad day.
5. Because more appropriate and learn to say "no"
People with low self-esteem are often difficult to stand up for themselves or tell others. This means that they can be overloaded at home or at work, because they do not like to refuse anything. However, this can strengthen stress, and it will be even harder to cope with it. Therefore, the development of factories can help improve your self-esteem. Sometimes, acting as if you believe in yourself, can actually help strengthen faith in yourself!