Increase self-esteem: five simple ways

It’s always a good time to increase self-esteem. After all, in the journey through our life cycle we are more than obliged to continue strengthening our Ito build a strong, secure and focused identity and self-worth with which we can relate much better with others (and above all) with ourselves.

The psychiatrist Luis Rojas Marcos explains to us in his book Self-esteem (living better) that This dimension is that feeling of pleasure and appreciation or unpleasantness and rejection that accompanies us every day. It is almost like a dress that will make it easier for us to move with more or less comfort, which will mediate almost any activity and process that we carry out in our daily lives.

We can choose to wear a heavy diving suit with which to sink progressively into unhappiness. We can also remove layers, armor, fears and indecisions to shape a healthy, confident and more competent vision. Because at the end of the day Nothing can be more devastating than stopping loving and respecting ourselves.

Let us appreciate every fragment of our being to enjoy a better quality of life. Let’s see how.

1. Increase self-esteem by remembering successes

Often, People have an almost obsessive tendency to focus only on the negative aspects.. We do it when our mood is low and then we give more importance to failures, mistakes and disappointments.

It is always better to remember the positive comments for your achievements or your job performance. Likewise, it is highly healthy that we learn to treat ourselves with respect, and this implies “thinking better”, in order to generate positive evaluations of ourselves.

Thus, studies such as the one carried out by Kristin Neff, from the University of Texas at Austin, tell us something important. If we are able to treat ourselves with greater kindness and self-compassion, we could increase self-esteem in a healthier way.

2. Don’t compare yourself to others

Each person has their own qualities and, of course, you are no exception. Don’t worry about those attributes that you would like to have and that you admire in others. Focus on yours and above all, on your human potential. Great virtues are inscribed inside you, and that person who is reflected in your mirror every day could not be more perfect.

To increase self-esteem, value aspects such as health, your personality, the people who love you, those mental faculties make you an intelligent person. Remember the good opportunities that your job offers you, what you contribute to others. There are probably many who would envy all that you have today. and that maybe you don’t value it enough.

3. Find the root of your lack of self-esteem

Maybe your low self-esteem is because you had a complex childhood., in which you felt like everyone was praising other kids, while no one was paying attention to your achievements. Did the nickname you were known by at school make you feel inferior to others? Were you too tall or too short compared to other children your age?

It is necessary to find the bottom of our negative feelings. Almost all of us have some aspect of our personality that we don’t like. But that doesn’t mean you should focus solely on it, because that will only make you feel bad.

Better try to analyze how those thoughts relate to the way you feel now. Analyzing those thoughts in their proper measure will help you increase your self-esteem.

4. Give yourself the value you deserve

Self-esteem is related to the way you perceive yourself. Look at yourself in front of a mirror and list the qualities you perceive. If you cannot detect positive characteristics in yourself, you would have an indication that your self-esteem is probably at rock bottom.

Sometimes it helps to write down the flaws you find in yourself.. By reading them one by one you can analyze if it is really a defect, an error, or something to change. You may discover that, curiously, in some cases what you consider negative in yourself is perceived as a virtue by those around you.

In any case, you are the one who has the last word; Only you can know if an aspect of your personality makes you happy or not. However, when carrying out this analysis avoid falling into the extremes of justification or ruthless criticism; Both attitudes are equally harmful. Although difficult, try to be objective and fair with yourself.

5. Don’t get stuck in the past, take momentum from it

If you have something that makes you ashamed of your past, let it go, in life we ​​all make mistakes. If you have already reconsidered and the affected party has forgiven you, do not insist on torturing your self-esteem by thinking that you are a failed person. If you insist on putting your finger on the problem, you will only underestimate yourself.

The past is nothing more than that rearview mirror that we look at from time to time to better guide us towards the present and the future. To increase self-esteem our gaze must focus on what really matters: the here and now.

In conclusion, Let us never forget that this psychological dimension is like that muscle that we exercise every day. If at any time we realize that it is difficult for us to put it into operation and the discomfort is excessive, we should not hesitate to consult with a specialized professional.

This can help us detect our lack of self-esteem, make it conscious and work on it. Sometimes, it is necessary for someone external and impartial to tell us what we may be doing right and wrong in our daily lives and how we can increase our internal well-being. It’s very healthy!

We are not machines and it is likely that, throughout our lives, we will have periods in which we focus more on our weak points and others, in which we believe we are invincible. It’s good for someone to bring us back to reality and understand that, in those moments when we are most vulnerable, we need to return to a point of balance.

You might be interested…