Your Happy Life : believe

Hi everyone,

Today I thought I would talk to you about low self-esteem as I know many people suffer from this and that it might be useful to have some ways of dealing with it and building your self-esteem up and that you do not have to do this alone.

First off low self-esteem can be a result of various factors such as:

Genetic factors
Physical appearance or weight
metal health issues
peer pressure
bullying
socioeconomic status.

A person with low self-esteem may have some of these factors shown blow

Heavy self -criticism and dissatisfaction
Hypersensitivity to criticism with feelings of being attacked and resentment against critics.
Excessive will or need to please and unwillingness to displease any petitioner.
Perfectionism, which can lead to frustration where perfection is not achieved
Neurotic guilt, dwelling or magnitude of past mistakes
Floating hostility and general defensiveness and irritability without any cause
Pessimism and a general negative outlook
Envy, invidiousness, or general resentment
Sees temporary setbacks as permanent or intolerable conditions.

People with low self-esteem tend to be critical of themselves. Some may depend on approval and praise from others when evaluating their self - worth. Others might measure their likability in terms of successes and may accept them if they succeed but will not if they don't.

Building your self -esteem!

Here are a few things that may help you build your self -esteem:

Do something you enjoy . Doing something that you both enjoy and are good at, can help build your confidence and increase your self-esteem. This can be anything at all.
Work . Work can provide identity, friendship, a steady routine plus a salary (which is always a bonus). Some people thrive in a busy environment with ambitious targets to aim for. It is important to feel confident in what you do even if it is volunteering.
Hobbies . This could be anything that you enjoy doing such as ,learning a new language, singing or painting. It can be something that you have a natural ability in , or something that you have always wanted to try, but make it something that won't challenge you to much.
Try to build positive relationships. Try to find people that will not criticise you, and who that you feel able to talk to about your feelings. If you spend your time around people that are positive and supportive, then you are more likely to have a better self-image and feel more confident.
Learn to be assertive, being assertive that you value yourself and others, and can communicate with mutual respect. Here are some things that will help you act in a more assertive way, pay attention to your body language as well as the words you say, try to express your feelings if you have been upset - you should wait until you feel calm and explain clearly how you are feeling, say 'no' to unreasonable requests, tell people if you need more time and support and try to speak in the first person when possible- e.g. "when you speak to me like that, I feel ....".
Assertiveness is a skill that can be learn and can be a difficult one to learn.
Looking after your physical health. Looking after your physical health can make you feel happier and healthier and can improve your self-image . You can do this through physical activity , sleep and diet preferably a healthy diet.
Set yourself a challenge, you should make sure the challenge has a achievable goal and does not have to be that large a goal. If you do set yourself a challenge and work towards meeting it , you will feel more satisfied and proud of yourself when you achieve the challenge and your goals and on a whole more positive as a result.
Focus on the positive things, this will take time to get use to thinking positively about yourself. One way to do this might be to make a list of things that you like about yourself you can include things about your personality, things about the way you look, things that you do and skills you have developed