What is self-esteem? Self-worth is the value that a person places on his or her own self. That sounds rather simplistic, doesn’t it? In fact, it is one of the first things that most parents discuss when their children are young. As we get older, it is an even more important issue.
Self-esteem also encompasses a person’s attitudes and emotions, including happiness, guilt, shame, triumph, Pride, and denial. A healthy sense of self-worth is rooted in a person’s ability to love himself and others equally and be self confident with his ability to do these things. Healthy self-esteem includes a person’s ability to love himself and others as well as to have a positive outlook and a healthy sense of self-compassion. Self-worth is based on the ability to love and accept oneself equally, with others being of equal or more importance than oneself.
Self-confidence and self-esteem often go hand in hand. When we lack self-confidence, we tend not to feel worthy of succeeding at anything. People who have low self-confidence also lack self confidence. They lack self-confidence because they are not happy with who they are, so they focus on everything negatively, believing that they are a burden or a flaw. Such negative self-talk causes us to build up more negative thoughts about ourselves. It leads to feelings of unworthiness and inadequacy, which can make us feel unworthy to accept help from others, to love ourselves, to be successful, etc.
A high self-esteem is essential if we want to succeed and achieve our goals. It is the cornerstone upon which we build our success and our achievements. It is built on a solid self concept – i.e. an underlying, positive self concept.
To achieve a healthy self-image, it is first necessary to eliminate negative beliefs and replace them with positive beliefs. A healthy self-image is based on a positive self concept. It may take some effort to change some of your old beliefs, but changing deep-rooted habits is a lot easier. Here are some ways in which you can develop your healthy self-esteem:
Have a realistic assessment of yourself. If you believe that you are below an acceptable level of self-worth, that you have low self respect or that you have nothing going for you that others notice, then you need to do something to change that. There are many things that you can do to improve your self esteem and self respect. Some of these things include adopting the correct posture, adopting the right posture for you, dressing in a manner that puts you in a positive light, taking on a positive attitude, having faith in your own abilities, having a positive and optimistic attitude, appreciating and giving compliments, doing things that make you feel good, improving your self-image and finally developing a positive social network. If you follow the above tips, you will soon find that you have a better understanding of yourself and what you have to offer, thereby boosting your self worth and self respect.
Self esteem and self worth are influenced by many factors. One of the many factors that influence self-esteem and self worth is the level of security that we feel about ourselves. Many people lack self-confidence and have a low self esteem. The more insecure a person is about his/her image or lack of image the lower their self esteem and self worth will be. So, for an image is everything, self-esteem is everything!
A low self esteem or self-image is also associated with a negative image of oneself, which in turn will impact negatively on the way that others see you. When others see a person with a low self-image they are likely to perceive that the person is negative, incompetent, untrustworthy, unambitious, lacking in motivation, unable to take responsibility, lacking in integrity, unable to handle conflict, unmotivated, unable to deal with uncertainty, lacking in confidence, and so forth. Low self esteem can also adversely affect the relationship between a person with low self esteem and others. Lack of communication with others can lead to a feeling of loneliness and frustration and this will invariably impact on the way that the person with low self esteem responds to certain situations.