Positive Ways to Feel Better about Yourself
Team Activity:
Select a partner, review this handout, and create role-plays to demonstrate each
suggestion. Here are a few tricks to help you cope with your occasional dip into low selfimage land:
1. Change your behavior.
Want to have high self-esteem? Then act like a winner. You are what you do. If you want
to feel good, do good. If you want to stop feeling bad, stop that bad behavior. So obvious,
so simple . . . yet so many people miss it. They go through life never making the connection
between their actions and their emotions. They think they can keep on doing self-destructive
things that hurt themselves or others—and still have high self-esteem. Silly, huh? But
everything’s connected. Once you learn this, you’re really on your way.
Do a little experiment. (C’mon, play along.) Try doing the right thing in some area of your
life – something you wouldn’t have bothered to do before. Start coming to class prepared if
you’ve been a little lazy about it before. Or don’t drink at a party even though everyone else
is doing it. The next day, think about how you feel. We bet you’ll feel pretty good. Maybe
that’s telling you something.
2. Be your own best friend.
If you’re not feeling good inside—and you think a bad self-image could be an ingredient—
learn as much about yourself and self-esteem as you can. (Hey, you’re reading this. Great
start!) Read books. Rent videos. Talk to somebody you trust, like a parent, school
counselor, or someone at your place of worship. “If you keep things to yourself, you feel
isolated and different,” the author says. “But if you open up just a little, chances are you’ll
discover that you’re not the only one feeling insecure . . . that there are lots of people who
think and feel as you do.”
Listen to yourself. Pay attention to your feelings. Are you happy, sad, mad, or afraid? It
may be an important message from the deepest part of your mind, telling you to avoid
something that may end up hurting you. If you don’t feel as though you’ve got someone you
can talk to, join a peer support group. Sometimes other kids can help you identify behaviors
that are giving you problems so you can make different choices.
3. Go ahead . . . take a risk.
If you want to be a success, you need to take risks -- pushing beyond where you feel
comfortable, pushing into unfamiliar (and sometimes scary) territory. Here’s an example: If
your goal is to be an actress someday, you’ll have to go on auditions and risk rejection. But
the more auditions you go on (and the more rejections you get), the greater your chances are
of finally getting a “Yes.” The odds are bound to be in your favor someday. Knowing this
can keep you from caving in.
PROTEAM DREAMQUEST CURRICULUM
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