How do you feel about yourself?
Self-esteem, the values we connect with ourselves, makes an enormous impact on our lives. It affects our ability to cope with change, meet new people, how well we work and how we cope with stress to name just a few!
High self-esteem is about putting a positive value on yourself. Having good friends and a caring family, doing a job you enjoy, living comfortably. Having goals and getting positive feedback from others can all help to improve our self-esteem.
Low self-esteem often results from attaching negative values to yourself, or part of yourself. This of course could stem from negative behaviour towards you from others, work/school bullies, family with problems – the list is endless.
Changes in our lives can often have a short-term effect on our self-esteem. For example moving to a new place to live and having to build new friendships, having a baby and losing who we thought we were, relationships ending and blaming ourselves.
It is important to become aware of this and take steps to re-build our self-esteem.
Simply by improving our self-awareness, we can improve our self-esteem.
Nathanial Branden, an expert in this area, describes self-esteem as ‘the experience's that are appropriate to life and to the requirements of life.’
This means that you feel secure about your place in the world and the challenges you face, even when they’re tough.
Branden believes there are six pillars of self-esteem:
- Living consciously – being aware of our thoughts and behaviour
- Self acceptance – accepting we cannot be perfect
- Self responsibility – being accountable for all that we do
- Self-assertiveness – expressing ourselves clearly
- Living purposefully – choosing how we want to live our life
- Personal integrity – Living up to your values and beliefs
Why not get a coffee and take some time to think about your self-esteem