Do you understand your self-worth?
It has nothing to do with checking your bank balance, it is about you as an individual, the person you are in life. We give others respect, love and consideration but how often do we give ourselves those things? How you value yourself is based on the self-esteem you have, your self-esteem shows you how much you truly value yourself. Healthy self-esteem leads to independence, happiness, flexibility and the ability to adapt easily to change. Low self-esteem on the other hand leads only to irrational thoughts, unhappiness, fear of change and a negative outlook on life in general. All of which is then passed on to our children.
How we see ourselves has a lot to do with how others see us, if we are happy, smiling and full of confidence then others see us as someone they want to be around, if we respect ourselves then others will respect us too .Finding and developing your self-worth is all about developing your self-esteem:
High self-esteem
Traits linked with a high self-esteem or self-worth are:
- You are secure about who you are and have confidence in your abilities
- You allow yourself to show your true feelings to others
- You don’t have intimacy problems in relationships
- You are able to recognize and take pride in yourself for your achievements in life
- You are easily able to forgive yourself for mistakes and also forgive others
Low self-esteem
If you have problems with low self-esteem then you will recognize the following traits in yourself:
- You lack belief in yourself and are very insecure
- You have problems showing and accepting intimacy in relationships
- You never let your true feelings show
- You never recognize and give yourself credit for your accomplishments
- You have the inability to forgive yourself or others
- You resist or fear change
Developing your self-worth
There are plenty of ways to boost your self-esteem and change to a positive and healthy outlook about yourself, here are just some tips for developing self-worth.
- Don’t take criticism to heart, instead listen to what the other person is saying and either learn from it or chose to tell yourself that people have different opinions on things and that is OK.
- Take some time out for yourself everyday, meditate, look inside yourself and appreciate all of your good points.
- Celebrate and pride yourself on even the smallest achievements that you accomplish.
- Do something everyday that you enjoy, such as talking a walk in the sunshine, soaking in a bubble bath or reading a chapter of a good book.
- Talk positively to yourself, repeat affirmations to drown out all of the negative thoughts and feelings.
Great newsletter Julia really enjoyed reading it,really useful
Thanks Margaret, its always nice to get feedback, I’m glad you enjoyed it :)
Hi Julia,
I think a good part of self-esteem building is to find what you love doing. So many times we do this as we are leaving a relationship, or during major shakeups in our lives but we can really do this anytime. I loved your advice.
I am visiting from Amazing Biz & Life. Nice to meet you!
Hi Amy, great to connect, thanks for stopping by
It’s true doing something you love goes a long way in building self esteem!
I like what you said about acknowledging that other people may have different beliefs and that’s okay. Too often I think someone is attacking me if they don’t agree with me, but I know that’s just not true. From now on I’m going to tell myself that it’s okay if they disagree and it’s nothing against me.
Hi Cassandra,
Its really easy to fall in to feeling defensive or hurt but wouldn’t the world be a dull place if we all had the same opinion or belief about things. Difference and diversity is GREAT, it makes the world fascinating, if only more people celebrated that rather than fighting!!