Our self esteem – it’s our self perception, it’s what we think, feel and believe about ourselves. It has a massive impact when people have low self esteem – I speak from experience, it was an underlying issue with my own mental health issues. It’s easy to pretend, so others don’t identify this low self esteem. My friends didn’t know for a long time about how I felt about myself.
Self punishment, feeling like I didn’t fit in, comparing myself to others, the need to achieve perfection. The feeling that you aren’t in the same league as anyone else, and can bully yourself with punishing thoughts. Its something that comes up regularly in my work with adults and children too.
Building self esteem can help people with depression and anxiety – it has a snowball effect that grows over time. It’s a new experience for me to have healthy self esteem. Yes there are off days, but on the whole, I feel good about myself and I don’t compare my life with others, whether they are strangers, peers or celebrities with seemingly perfect lifestyles.
What are your thoughts – do you think you have healthy levels of self esteem?