How to Battle Low Self Esteem and Change Your Self Perceptions

Without a high esteem of yourself, you are confining yourself to a life of less desirable employment, less money, less education, and a substandard relationship.

Low self esteem can stem from many issues including abuse, media influence, peer influence, and poor health. Learn now how to improve your self esteem so you can live the life you deserve to live.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A fair analysis of your strengths and weaknesses
• Friends and family who support you
• Community or church affiliation
• A metal trash can to burn your fashion magazines
• matches
• a television sabbatical

1. Sometimes self esteem issues run so deep that you may need to see a professional to help you sort our your feelings, thoughts and behaviors. A therapist can be objective and provide you with insight on why you feel the way you do about yourself.

2. Write down everything you like about yourself. Then write down everything you don't like. Is your likes list longer or shorter than your dislikes? Are you dislikes realistic or have you exaggerated your flaws? Have you been completely honest in listing all your talents, achievements, best personality traits, greatest physical features?

3. Negative thoughts go largely unnoticed by our conscious mind. Purposely slow down your thoughts when you are starting to feel negative. Ask yourself:
   
   Why am I feeling this way right now?
   What is my negative thought?
   What triggered my negative thought?
   Is my negative thought something I would think or say about my best friend?
   
   A true measure of how authentic the thought is can be your answer to the last question. If you wouldn't say it to your best friend, why say it to yourself?

4. Get involved. Volunteer. Join a church group or get more involved in your current group. Join community events and organizations that interest you. Part of your self esteem can come from having too much time to think about the problem. Flood your life with positive things and you will begin to feel better about yourself.

5. Have a bon fire. Check your local laws first to see if this is allowed. Place all your fashion, fitness, and beauty magazines in a metal trash can made for burning and set it ablaze. Those images are not real. The models are pushed up, air brushed chronic dieters who have eating disorders. Don't look up to them and don't give your money to an industry that is more interested in manipulating you into buying their products rather than helping you.

6. Take a television sabbatical. Many TV shows have gorgeous actors and actresses. This is fine but when you watch these images for years, your mind begins to think that what is on TV is normal. Get out into the real world for a week. Turn the tube off. Unplug it if you have to. Call your mom and tell her to notify you if World War Three starts or a natural disaster is coming your way. Then get out into the world and do something other than zone out in front of the tube.

7. Get a self help book on self esteem. Make sure the book is action oriented and will give you good information on how to change your self image. I recommend Dr. Phil. Some people don't like him but I recommend him because he simplifies complex psychological concepts for those of us without a psychology degree. He also provides exercises that get you to think about your behaviors and thoughts.

Tips & Warnings

• Confide in a friend, family member, clergy and/or doctor about your self esteem problems.
• You probably won't increase your self esteem overnight. Be patient with yourself and be diligent in your plan to increase your self esteem.
• If you think burning your magazines is too dramatic or unsafe, recycle them.
• Low self esteem can be a sign of a chronic condition like depression or post traumatic stress syndrome. Seek medical attention if you think this is the case.

[Desula]

on 1/22/2009 Thanks for the tips on dealing with low self esteem and improving your self perceptions.