Does Your Self Esteem and Confidence Need a Boost?
Self esteem is usually defined as how we feel about ourselves, and how much we like and respect ourselves.
It has been said many times that if we don’t like ourselves it is impossible to really like, much less to love, anyone else. Liking and respecting ourselves is very different from vanity or narcissism, which at their most extreme, can become total self-absorption, selfishness and the inability to consider anyone else’s viewpoint or feelings. To have healthy self esteem, on the other hand, is to be comfortable and confident within ourselves, and with who we are as people.
Most people have their self doubts, and may be uncomfortable with some of their personality traits. However, there’s no doubt that we can change almost any part of our personality if it is important enough to us and we are prepared to put in the necessary effort. This is actually what self improvement is all about, making positive change to our lives. Making changes requires commitment and can be difficult, but the good news is that there are countless valuable resources available that can provide great advice and guidance.
There are also many people who have self esteem issues due to aspects of their physical appearance. The fast paced, multi media society we live in can build impossible and totally unrealistic expectations of what constitutes the ideal physical appearance.
Probably the best example of all this is weight issues. We’re all aware of the almost unbelievable extremes in behaviour this issue can bring about, including the cases of frighteningly young children being affected.
More often than not, the things that cause us to worry about ourselves, physical or otherwise, mean absolutely nothing to anyone else. In many cases, if we discussed the things that cause us concern with friends or loved ones, they would be, if not totally incredulous about our concerns, at the very least surprised. Most of us are much harsher on ourselves that anyone else is, or than we really need to be.
I’m not suggesting that any of these issues are trivial or easy to deal with, rather that they mean a great deal more to us than they do to anyone else. Almost without exception, they will be inhibiting and affecting us, while having little or no impact on how other see us. Much more impact will be caused by the way we let ourselves feel about the issue, which can affect our interaction with other people.
Self esteem is about how we feel on the inside, and how we feel inside will affect how we feel and act on the outside. Our self esteem helps to determine our personality and character, and how we react to the experiences and challenges we face in our lives.
It also affects all of our relationships and how we interact with everyone we come in contact with. And it certainly affects how successful and happy we are throughout our lives. Some people have such serious self esteem issues, that deep down, they feel unworthy of success or happiness. This can even lead to unconscious self sabotage when things are going better for them than they feel they deserve.
Having healthy self esteem is really about feeling comfortable and confident with ourselves as we are, and accepting and appreciating ourselves as human beings. This doesn’t mean we think we are perfect, or that we think we are always right. Nobody is perfect, and self improvement is an ongoing journey. The very fact that we are making the effort to improve our lives will help us to feel better about ourselves and boost our self esteem and confidence.
‘If you put a small value on yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.’ - Source unknown
Garry Zancanaro is founder of {a href= http://www.selfimprovementdirectory.com/} SelfImprovementDirectory.com visit to claim a FREE Think and Grow Rich, and creator of {a href= http://www.supersuccesslibrary.com/} SuperSuccessLibrary.com a collection of the Best Success Resources
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