A Way Out Addiction Treatment Center Newsletter #3 03/2013 | Page 10

Building Self Esteem
Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself as a person.
Those with high self-esteem believe that they are
adequate, strong and worthy of a good life, while those
with low self-esteem feel inadequate and worthless. Low
self-esteem can develop in childhood and continue
throughout adulthood, causing great emotional pain.
Therefore, it‘s important to develop a healthy, positive
sense of self.
Many people base their self-esteem on external factors,
such as how much money they earn, how much they
weigh and whether people like and appreciate them. If one
of these external variables change, self-esteem can be
broadly affected. For example, if your self-esteem is based
on the fact that someone else loves you, then you risk
feeling extremely vulnerable and worthless if that person‘s
love ends. By the same token, building self-esteem is not
an easy task if you have suffered years of personal or
professional failure.
Building your self-esteem and creating a positive selfawareness comes from taking an inventory of your own
strengths and abilities as a human being. Being at peace
with who you are and what you have to offer the world is a
major part of having high self-esteem. This ?inner peace?
does not mean that you are unaware of your weaknesses;
it merely means that you accept who you are and
genuinely like the person you have become.
You should think about yourself as deserving of attention,
admiration and proper maintenance. Avoid the pitfall of
paying too much attention to the happiness and well-being
of others and too little to your own. Maintaining selfesteem involves becoming fully aware of your strengths
and seeing challenges as opportunities to employ those
strengths.
Low self-esteem is often linked to depression or anxiety. If
your emotions feel overpowering or out of control, one way
to build self-esteem around this issue is to learn to
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