Self-Esteem: A Tool for Self-Progression

Many people never experience high self-worth or feel high self-esteem.

People with low self-esteem tend to think they have little worth and have a negative view of almost everything. Expecting the worst, they invite it and, unfortunately, they often get it. To defend themselves, they hide behind a wall of distrust and sink into loneliness and isolation. Having low self-esteem tends to create more problems with money, depression, and drug abuse. People with low self-esteem are even more vulnerable to clinical problems such as anxiety and loneliness.

But what if low self-esteem was meant to tell you something?

It can be a motivating influence that shows us what we need to work on. If we use self-esteem as an interpersonal monitor we can actually use it to our advantage. It helps us gauge when we are not in a position that we want to be or when our acceptance in a group is being threatened. Therefore, we can make the appropriate changes such as being more social or removing a bad habit that hurts others.

Instead of taking self-esteem and using it as a representation of our self-worth we can use it for self-progression!

Someone whose self-esteem is based off of their ability to do well at a job will feel high self-esteem when having their ideas picked or getting a promotion. By understanding what is important to us we can begin to work towards high self-esteem. It is important to self-evaluate because it affects the way we live, think, act and feel about ourselves and others. It also affects how successful we are in achieving our goals.

It is possible to raise anyone’s sense of self-worth, no matter how old or young. If we are capable of inviting in the worst who says we can’t invite in the best? When we focus on our strengths, “I am a great cook” or “I love to draw” then we can enhance our performance in those areas which generates positive self-esteem.

Work on affirmations and build your positive self-talk with statements such as:

• I like who I am and I feel good about myself.
• I am positive. I am confident. I radiate good things.
• I am in control of my life.

Take a self-esteem quiz

You can get a broad idea of your self-esteem level by doing this quick self-esteem quiz. This is another way of becoming aware of the feelings and thoughts that affect your self-esteem. Download the self-esteem quiz here.

For more tips and information on building your self-esteem, join our Building Self-Esteem workshop. There is always hope that life can change because we can always learn new things!

Visit our blog for more mental health resources.

If you are interested in self-care, you can read more about it here.