SHAREAre you low on self-esteem?
Read on to find ways to boost your self-esteem!
Does this sound familiar? You walk into a room full of people and immediately look at the ground, feeling self-conscious. As much as you try to be confident about yourself, your self-esteem doesn’t allow it.
Self-esteem is the confidence you have in your worth and abilities. It’s important for many reasons as it affects your thoughts, behaviour and how you value yourself.
Why is a healthy self-esteem important?
- Self-esteem can determine your success or failure.
- Your self-esteem can affect your thinking, dictating whether you feel positive or negative.
- It affects your confidence.
- It affects your self-image (the way you see yourself).
- Self-esteem helps you to have the right attitude to succeed.
If you are struggling with your self-esteem, fear not!
The following tips can help you love yourself more:
You don’t need to have a personality transplant to improve your self-esteem. All you need to do is to change your mindset!
When you look in the mirror, zoom in and focus wholly on your inner and outer beauty, despite the flaws.
Your loved ones appreciate you and, if you’re wondering why, it’s because you have so much to offer!
Think about your special qualities, and the little and big things you do for others. Consider your unique talents and the good you have done so far. Don’t fret over the frequent stumbles!
If you love and appreciate yourself, you will automatically feel happier, and this will improve your self-esteem.
When you are happy, you smile more, laugh more and radiate happiness and youth.
When you love someone, you want to take care of them as best as possible. In the same way, if you love and appreciate yourself, you want to take care of yourself and put yourself first.
So, do your daily exercise, follow a healthy diet and go to your doctor’s appointments.
Let living health become second nature!
Nothing can harm your self-esteem like constantly making comparisons between yourself and others.
It’s important to remember that you don’t know enough about any person to compare them to yourself. For example, if you compare your body to someone’s which looks very athletic, think about why they look that fit, as they might have been training for years.
When you look in the mirror, you might see flaws that make you think you’re too fat, too short or too skinny – everything that is not good enough. At social gatherings you might feel that you aren’t as smart or funny as other people.
Let’s flip that mindset!
Rather, focus on all the things your body and mind does for you. Your legs power your 10 kilometre runs, your arms churn through the water as you swim, propelling you forward. Love, appreciate and marvel at all these things.
Imagine how it feels when someone supports you despite your faults and failures. Now, picture how good it would feel if you received the same support from yourself – all day, every day!
We all make mistakes and it’s not easy to forgive yourself, but learning to dust yourself off and try again, while supporting yourself, will help sustain your self-confidence to keep you going.
Your thoughts are so powerful that they can change the view you have of yourself.
Consciously practise self-love.
Write down or recite your strengths and good qualities. Reward yourself when you have achieved something and be proud of who you are!
Want to find out more about a specific mental health condition? You can follow this link.
You can also access more mental wellbeing tools at Let’s Talk.
