What affects self-esteem is a question that has been on the minds of many people who have grown up in a culture where low self-esteem and being self-conscious about our image is considered normal. But what is actually normal is a different question altogether. What affects self-esteem depends on the kind of person we are and the kind of environment we grow up in. Different kinds of people go through different experiences and so they develop differently.
Self-esteem can be affected by what you do in life and how you handle stress, relationships at work, or even how you feel like you look. We all have different kinds of experiences and this also contributes to the development of self-esteem. A person who is not accepting of other people’s opinions may have a low self-esteem. On the other hand, a person who believes they are good enough, confident and able to deal with any situation can build a strong self-esteem.
Studies have shown that childhood experiences can have a lasting impact on how a person handles stress and how they perceive themselves. If you grew up with parents who told you that you are worthless or that you are too small, then your childhood experiences can affect how you see yourself even after you grow up and have a fulfilling adult life. If these beliefs are still engraved into your subconscious mind, then this can be a big problem and can lead to low self-esteem. People with poor childhood experiences tend to be low achievers and have low self-confidence as well.
Low self-esteem can affect how you interact with others and it can also affect how you feel about yourself and about life in general. So if you believe that you are a worthless person, then this will reflect in how you interact with other people and how you feel about yourself. Low self-esteem can also affect your level of happiness with life and your level of satisfaction with your work and relationships. A person who has high self-esteem is a happy person who looks at life in a positive way and sees their successes as a source of happiness rather than frustration and loss.
Poor relationships with toxic partners, parents or peers can cause us to view life in a negative way and this can manifest as low self-esteem. Relationships can be like a roller coaster ride and we often look at the bad times in our life in a way that only brings us down further. But by changing the ways in which we look at the bad times in our lives we can take the necessary steps to transform our relationship with these people and make them more positive influences in our lives. It takes courage, but it can be done.
One of the reasons that it can be so hard to get older is that many of us do not get to enjoy the best years of our life because we are stuck in the daily rigors of raising children, working and managing careers. All of the things that we did in youth gets replayed in our later years and it can be even harder to take the reins and say, “All right, let’s go for it now.” Life can be so much fun when you can free your mind to do the things that you did in your youth without having to listen to the nagging voice in your head that says, “Don’t do that!
New research from the Laboratory of College students at University of Missouri-Columbia confirms what most of us already know: that the way we think about ourselves can greatly affect how other people see us. In the study, for instance, the researchers had participants read positive statements about themselves and then watched how they responded to statements about their body size, appearance or overall income level. The study found that people with high self-esteem were significantly more likely to notice and evaluate new information relative to those in the lowest economic quintile, but that those in the highest economic quintile were significantly less likely to notice or evaluate the new information relative to those in the lowest economic quintile.
What affects self-esteem is also a matter of understanding what happens to us over time. Over time our brains’ plasticity allows us to perceive the world in distinctly different ways. For instance, if we were to look at an old photograph of ourselves, our eyesight would change significantly. However, if we looked at a photograph of someone else we might be inclined to assume that they have changed their appearance, but the truth is that their appearance has remained the same. Thus, changes in perception, which is closely related to changes in self-esteem, are real and should not be ignored or underestimated.