What is Self-Esteem?
Self-esteem is the beliefs you have about yourself, what you think about the type of person you are, your abilities, the positive and negative things about you and what you expect for your future.
If you have good self-esteem, your beliefs about yourself will mainly be good. If you experience difficult times in your life, you will normally be able to deal with these without them having too much of a negative impact on you.
If you have low self-esteem, the way you see yourself will often be negative. You will tend to focus on your weaknesses or mistakes that you have made, and find it hard to recognise the positive parts of your personality. You might also blame yourself for any difficulties or failures that you have.
What Causes Low self-Esteem?
1) Difficult childhood experiences like bullying, family problems and hard times at school can affect self-esteem.
2) Feeling different or odd compared to others.
3) If you have limited social contact with other people, or find it hard to maintain relationships with other people, this can lead to poor self-image.
4) Trauma, abuse or bullying – trauma; physical, sexual or psychological abuse and bullying can all lead to feelings of guilt and low self-worth.
5) Stress and excessive pressure – if you are under a lot of stress and finding it hard to cope, this can lead to feelings of low self-worth.
6) Other people being negative about you or making you feel like you are not worth much. Or you may feel you don’t live up to other people’s expectations.
SELF ESTEEM AND HOW TO LOVE YOURSELF
By Lois Cummings