Busters and Boosters: Self-Esteem

 

How to feel better about yourself

 

BUSTERS

• Comparing yourself to others wastes time and energy. We’re all unique
• Blaming your parents for how you’ve turned out. This prevents you from taking responsibility for your life and initiating change
• Constantly trying to live up to your ideal self. The gap created between that and your everyday self can result in continuous self-criticism
• Misreading others by taking a small criticism or passing comment and blowing it up into a huge attack on your self-worth
• Beating yourself up for stuff that went wrong in the past
• Allowing yourself to succumb to exhaustion as it can lead to feelings of anxiety and vulnerability
• Measuring your self-worth according to things you’re bad at rather than those you’re good at
• Believing that because you failed at something in the past you’re bound to fail at it again in the future. Such beliefs can easily turn into self-fulfilling prophecies 

BOOSTERS 

• Accepting compliments gracefully. Brushing them off is a form of false humility. You don’t need to be humble
• Practising the 3 As of self-esteem: Accept yourself. Approve of yourself. Appreciate yourself.
• Viewing personal crises as personal challenges and seeing them as an opportunity to turn something around in your life
• Creating firm boundaries in your life. Not letting others dump their problems on you or  use you. This isn’t what friendship is about
• Recharging your batteries. Set aside a time for relaxation and contemplation every day no matter how busy you are
• Taking responsibility for everything that happens to you. This is ultimately empowering
• Learning to say ‘No’ without feeling guilty

• Understanding that self-doubt is your biggest enemy. Whatever life throws at you tell yourself ‘I can handle it’

  
  

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