Overcoming Low Self Esteem

Did you know that having low self esteem is one of the reasons for feeling insecure and doubtful? You will find tips and advice on overcoming low self esteem here.

What is Self Esteem?

Self esteem is a person’s views and beliefs about herself, usually developed at the unconscious level. These viewpoints formed a person’s self concept. It influences the way she perceives things, situations and people and thus affect her behavior and reactions. And it determines her level of success, or lack of it, in life.

Having low self esteem is one of the major reasons why many people face endless problems in their lives and feel miserable a majority of the time. The feeling of unworthiness makes them believe that they aren’t good enough. This is one of the reasons why people with low self esteem sabotage themselves.

The Symptoms of Low Self Esteem

1. Lack of self confidence
2. Having a superiority or an inferiority complex
3. Self conscious, nervous and feeling awkward
4. Excessive jealousy
5. Easily offended
6. Pessimistic
7. Indecisiveness
8. Can’t accept feedback and consider them as criticisms and personal attacks
9. Have a habit of berating and criticizing self
10. Self pity
11. Insecure
12. Feeling inadequate
13. Always making comparisons

The Causes of Low Self Esteem

Self esteem is developed during childhood and adolescence. A person’s upbringing, role models and environment contribute and influence how she sees and feels about herself. A child who faced with constant criticisms, ridicules, embarrassments and comparisons during her growing years will develop low self esteem. Being a victim of abuse or having witnessed consistent abuse are also the causes of low self esteem.

When the child grows up, she has already formed an image of herself and about people. All the negativity and unresolved emotional issues dating back to her childhood years result in her having a poor body image, sometimes leading to emotional eating or obesity, feeling unworthy and getting herself into abusive relationships.

Overcoming Low Self Esteem

Become aware, admit and accept

To rebuild self esteem, you must become aware, admit and accept that you have a problem and want to change. Once you make up your mind, developing self esteem becomes possible.

Do a self evaluation or self examination

One of the best ways to do a self evaluation is to sit down and ask and answer some tough questions. Everything that you feel, do or don’t do have to do with your beliefs. The purpose of the questionnaires is to crush those old and limiting beliefs and your views about yourself.

And during the process of self examination and contemplation, release and let go of your anger, guilt and hurt. You don’t have to find the root of the problem because recalling those unpleasant past can bring more hurt and pains. Learn to forgive yourself and those who have hurt you. One effective tool in releasing your emotional issues is to use the emotional freedom technique or EFT.

Set new goals

Setting new goals, working towards them and achieving each one will have positive effects and one of the ways in overcoming low self esteem. When you reach one goal, your self confidence will improve and your self esteem will follow and so will your self respect.

During the process of working towards your goals, put your focus on the things that you have done and succeeded. Think back of all the things you thought, at first, that you couldn’t do but did it anyway no matter how small you think it is.

Monitor your self talk

Your biggest resistance is from yourself in the form of your self talk. Your inner critic is going to tell you why you cannot do it. Each time you feel like giving up or go back to how you were behaving or reacting, stop whatever you are doing and try to listen to what your inner self is telling you.

If you find it difficult, do something else to change your focus of attention. Breathe deeply or go for a walk or a jog or do anything else that will interrupt your thought patterns. If you do this consistently, your subconscious mind will get the message that you don’t want to entertain it.

Stay away from negative people or environment

Negative people can drain your energy and make you feel helpless with all their pessimisms. Try to stay away as far as you can from them. Hang around with people, who are optimistic, have considerable amount of self esteem and self worth. You need a support group and these people’s positive vibrations can and will influence your thinking and help you in improving your self esteem.

Change your self image

How you see yourself in your mind affect the way you feel. If you think you are fat, nothing can make you feel thin. Have the correct view of how you look. Don’t get obsessed about it but do take care of your physical appearance. If you are overweighed, start an exercise and workout program. It will help you lose weight and change the way you feel and it’s good for your health.

Feed your mind with new programming

You can use positive affirmations to counter your old beliefs. Learning to visualize and “act as if” you have improved your self esteem is also effective. And self help programs like self hypnosis and subliminal recordings are tools that can assist you in changing your old mental programming. It’s also very helpful if you start reading books, watch or listen to video and audio programs to feed your mind with positive materials and get new inspirations.

Seek professional help

If you think that you can’t do it on your own, seek professional help.

To end this, here's a quote by Jim Rohn that I hope will inspire you.

"To have an incredible increase in self esteem, all you have to do is start doing some little something. You don't have to do spectacularly dramatic things for self esteem to start going off the scale. Just make a commitment to any easy discipline. Then another one and another one."

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