This post highlights 15 amazing ways of boosting your self-esteem thus elevating your levels of self-love and self-worth. Self-esteem is an important component of your mental health because it concerns how you perceive yourself. As human beings we are wired to thrive on love, appreciation, and recognition; however, it is impossible to believe that you are loved and appreciated when you neither love nor appreciate your own self.
Why should low self-esteem be of concern and why boost it?
Low self-esteem is a danger because it may distort your identity and quality of life. Some people turn out to be terrorists or serial crime perpetrators just to punish humanity for not being the people or living the life that they had wanted. Consequences of low self-esteem may include;
- Substance abuse to feel better
- Self-harm tendencies to seek attention or punish oneself
- Risky behaviour to prove oneself to peers or to get noticed
- Abusive towards others
- Judgmental hence failure to love and accept others
15 amazing ways of boosting your self-esteem
So how can you boost your self-esteem? Firstly if you’re reading this post on behalf of someone that you may want to help, the best way is to share this article with them or advise them to subscribe for frequent newsletters via mail that will help them deal with various issues surrounding self-love and happiness.
Secondly, if you are reading this because you have identified that you may need a small push in improving your self-esteem, you can do the following;
Avoid self-criticism and self-pity
Fix it step by step
If your low self-esteem is caused by your appearance such as being overweight; begin to work on it a step at a time. Don’t go into extreme methods of weight loss or extreme diets. They will only hurt you and the results never last. Take a step at a time and be content with getting gradual but steady results. If it is caused by past experience, take certain steps to face your past and start letting go.
Think and talk positive
People with low self-esteem are often pessimistic about themselves, about situations, and about other people around them. Everything begins in the mind, if you don’t fix your mind, you are messed up. What gets your mind ultimately gets you. If you’re always thinking negatively you will perceive things negatively and your life will be all negative. You can’t achieve anything in a negative environment.
Avoid comparing yourself to others
Another man’s path of life is not your path of life so you cannot be envying what others have, do, lifestyle, or achievements. Being motivated is alright, but do not envy. You are a unique entity; you can’t look like your neighbour or that famous person on social media. Stop comparing yourself or what you have with other people; you should be your own measure of worth. Do not select an individual as your measure of worth or beauty.
Avoid social media
If you are unable to handle social media positively or without feeling bad about yourself, avoid it. In fact, delete those social platforms from your phone. Why are you there anyway? If it’s gossip you love, there are other forms of media where you can reach out to a number of people without having to scroll down your screen for an hour envying fake make-belief lives and photoshopped or edited images. Most of the impressions on social media are not even real.
Three-quarters of the people that spend time telecasting their entire lives and achievements on social media actually have self-esteem issues and only get a sense of self-worth through the numerous likes and affirmations on their post. So don’t suffer your soul by envying whatever is displayed there, there’s always more or less to the story than actually meets the eye.
Accept failure with grace
Failure is a normal aspect of life and we all go through it in one way or another at some point. Of course more often for others but that doesn’t mean that you’re a loser. When you fail, lick your wounds, get up and try again or try a new thing till you satisfy yourself.
Develop a positive approach to rejection
The same goes for rejection. This is something that we all encounter at some point. To learn more about how to face rejection with a smile, click here.
Forgive yourself
You may have done some very nasty or disgusting things in your past that make you dislike or cause you to look down on yourself. However, you can’t beat yourself up forever. It’s time to forgive yourself and give yourself a second or third chance.
Nobody’s perfect
So don’t pressure yourself to be perfect. Be fair to yourself. Yes, you should aim for excellence but not perfection. Also do not use another person to measure excellence, be your own comparison.
Practice saying no
Have you ever been made to do something that you really didn’t want to and it left you feeling terrible? If yes then next time say no. You will like the feeling and you will feel powerful because you will be in control. Don’t be made to do things that are against your principles.
Stand your ground. If you don’t have core principles, it’s time you laid down some and stuck to them. Those principles define who you are and you should never cross them for anyone. If you need help with setting principles, you can reach out in my mailbox or simply subscribe because I will be sharing this topic soon.
Limit your time on social media
Instead, develop a hobby that will keep you busy such that your whole life is not on social media.
Identify habits that leave you feeling bad about yourself and avoid them
If gossiping makes you feel like a bad person, you might as well avoid it altogether. Perhaps you are a substance abuser and you hate it so much so that you disgust yourself, take a step by seeking help that will enable you to quit without suffering the full impact of withdrawal symptoms. But whatever it is that you do that makes you hate you, is not worth doing. Quit.
Stay clean
If you think you are not pretty or handsome, there’s very little I can do right now to convince you otherwise. But I can strongly advise you to make the most of what you have by cleaning up. Do your hair, dress modestly, look fresh, and clean. But remember not to do it for somebody, do it for yourself. Moreover, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. You may not see the beauty in yourself but trust me someone will. But it’s hard to see that beauty if you are all messy and stuffy.
Don’t think too much into fashion trends and societal expectations
Fashion is what it is- for show. Reality is what it is- authentic and you are in reality, not a fashion show. You cannot aspire to move along with every little fashion trend. Try setting your own trends so long you feel good about yourself.
Don’t think too much into what others say about you
What you can do right now as short term goals
Practice gratitude
Gratitude is the antidote to so much including self-esteem, self-love and happiness. A grateful attitude can change your whole perspective of life and instil a sense of wholeness in you. Learn more about gratitude here and download a 30 days gratitude challenge.
Break a sweat
Science has proven that physical exercise has the ability to elevate mood and relieve anxiety. YouTube is loaded with all manner of exercise from dance to six-pack challenges. You can jog around the house or skip with your rope. Whichever you prefer, the idea is to get moving and relieve some of that negative energy and feel better.
Restock
Get rid of all the sad music in your music collection. Any music that makes you cry, makes you crawl into a self-pity black hole, or makes you feel bad. Music about pain, revenge, vengeance, sadness, anger… that music, get rid of it right now! It is not good for you at all. Replace it with a new collection of uplifting happy music. Similarly, get rid of all negative movies and videos, find movies that will make you feel good or laugh.
Smile and laugh
Find something right now to make you laugh. Make laughing and smiling a habit. It has been proven that laughing stimulates the release of endorphins which are natural feel-good chemicals. Hence improving your overall sense of well being and mood; and in the long run, boost your self-esteem along with the other strategies highlighted above.
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Hope you have found this post helpful. Your feedback will be highly appreciated. You can also share your tips in the comment box below and help that someone that may need a self-esteem boost. Thanks for reading.
Read How to stop feeling bad about yourself
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