Self-esteem refers to how we see ourselves and how positive we feel with ourselves. Having self-confidence is essential to being happy, and yet it’s something that often takes people years to build up. If your self-esteem is low, there’s every chance you’ll struggle to truly be at peace and comfortable in your own skin, and this can contribute to a low mood.
It’s thought that a shocking 85% of people have low self-esteem, and it can impact you in every aspect of your life, from work performance to social relationships. With this in mind, it’s important to boost your self-esteem in order to thrive. It’s not an overnight job and will certainly take time, but here are five handy tips you can implement to slowly start to increase your self-esteem.
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Identify your flaws and come to terms with them
The first step to feeling confident and comfortable in your skin is to come to terms with the fact that you’re not perfect. Being able to identify your flaws and accept them is essential for building up your self-esteem, but it’s often the hardest step. Everyone has things they don’t like about themselves, but make sure when you’re picking out your flaws, you’re being fair to yourself.
It’s easy to tear yourself apart, but this isn’t the point of identifying your flaws. It’s more to accept the things you can’t change and learn to be okay with them. Remember, not everything is a flaw!
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Remind yourself of your strengths
Once you’ve come to terms with your flaws, it’s time to identify your strengths. You might feel like you don’t have any if your self-esteem is low, but there are certainly things that you’re good at and qualities you have that other people admire.
For example, you might be really good at your job which is a great strength to have, or maybe your hair is luscious and thick which is the stuff on envy for other people. It could be that you’re supremely kind and always complimented on how polite you are, or maybe you are able to stay patient and calm in pressing circumstances.
Whatever it is, when you feel bad or down, remind yourself of your strengths. It’s important to cling to the positives when trying to build self-esteem.
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Do things for other people
The next way you can boost your self-esteem is to do things for other people. Studies have shown that doing selfless acts can make you feel better about yourself. This means whether you volunteer at a local homeless shelter or donate to a charity that does work in India, the more you help other people through selfless acts, the better you will feel about yourself.
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Unlearn comparing yourself to others
One of the worst things you can do for your self-esteem is to compare yourself to others. This is very much a taught trait that begins from childhood when teachers compare things like physical performance in sports class and test scores from exams. Unfortunately, this causes us to automatically compare ourselves to others, and social media feeds into this.
It’s exceptionally hard to stop comparing yourself to other people, but it is possible with a lot of conscious thinking. If you struggle a lot, try and stay away from social media for a while until your self-esteem is at a good level and you feel good about yourself.
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Treat yourself like you’re a stranger
Our final tip for building self-esteem is to treat yourself as if you were a stranger. What we mean by this is, when you find yourself thinking bad or unkind thoughts about yourself, imagine saying those things to a stranger. If you wouldn’t say or think those things about a stranger, don’t say them to yourself.
