For many of us, having strong self-esteem can be one of our most prized possessions. Having a positive view of how we see ourselves is known to come with several advantages, helping us grow in confidence as we engage in regular interactions with our friends, colleagues and even strangers who enter our lives.
“Self-esteem is your subjective sense of overall personal worth or value. Similar to self-respect, it describes your level of confidence in your abilities and attributes,” explains health and wellness publication Very Well Health.
The above-mentioned source further explains that having healthy self-esteem has a big influence on your motivation, mental well-being and overall quality of life.
In contrast to this, however, having self-esteem that is either too high or too low can become problematic which is why it is important to find the right balance.
Why do people have low self-esteem?
Better Health – a well-known wellness hub – explains that having low self-esteem has a lot to do with one’s development from childhood. People who suffer from this usually include those who grew up having parents who were extremely critical of the things they did.
Other common factors also include poor academic performance which results in a lack of confidence as well as a significant life disruption, like growing up in a single-parent household and financial trouble.
While many of these factors often follow most people into adulthood there are certain things that you can do to improve your self-esteem.
Mental wellness hub – Mind – recommends these tips:
- Get to know yourself – discover what makes you happy and write it in a journal.
- Try to challenge unkind thoughts about yourself – change the way you think about yourself by complementing yourself with the things you do extremely well.
- Try to avoid comparing yourself to others – Social media is often the biggest tool of comparison, this is why it is important to minimise the amount of time you spend on the app.
- Do something nice for yourself – making your favourite meal or playing a game you enjoy.
Also see: Benefits of a social media detox
