How Does Low Self-Esteem Affect your Confidence

What is self-esteem?

Self-esteem is understanding your worth and how you measure up in the world. Self-esteem also includes what you say to yourself. Whether it is positive or negative. Self-esteem is more than just how we see ourselves.

The Shocking Statistic about Self-Esteem

It is a shocking statistic that 1 in 5 American adults suffer from low self-esteem. It’s not difficult to see why. Our society is one where we are constantly told about how many things we are not doing well and what we need to improve on. From trying to get good grades, to not wearing fashionable clothes and not being in shape. We are reminded of all of the areas in our life where we are lacking, from not being good enough at our jobs, to not being able to provide for the family. It is a tough world to live in, where we are in a constant state of self-criticism. So what is the answer? How do you get rid of low self-esteem?

The truth is, we each come into the world with varying levels of self-esteem, and we all have different ways of attaining our personal self-esteem. You are what determines your personal perception of your worth and as is the case with many things in life, we are all different and our experiences, experiences that are unique to each of us, also determine how high we regard ourselves. In the simplest terms, self-esteem relates to how we evaluate our own performance, attitude, and character compared to that of others.

In fact, the term “self-esteem” actually comes from the Latin roots so-esteem that means “esteem” and stultus that means “bad.” In other words, self-esteem is an ideal level of how you view your own strengths, talents, and resources compared to others. In an ideal world, you would be so happy to know that, at your peak, you can live your life with the level of personal satisfaction that you were created to enjoy. The problem is – many of us do not live up to our personal standards and thus fail to live up to our personal expectations of ourselves.

How Does Low Self-Esteem Affect your Confidence

 

While there is no simple and direct link between low self-esteem and low confidence, the psychological relationship between the two seems clear.

You might think that having an under-performing or under-achieving life or career might lead to self-doubt and the need to avoid any further problems. If so, you will need to go through certain steps to improve your self-esteem, but how does that actually work?

To understand how you can reduce your self-esteem and improve your confidence, you first need to understand the root of the problem. And there are a huge number of factors that can affect your opinion of yourself:

1. Your self-image

Your self-image is the result of how you think you look, how you present yourself to the world and how others see you. Research that has been done indicates that a woman with a more positive self-image (as measured by the ‘self-esteem scale’) has a greater self-confidence and self-esteem than a woman who perceives herself with more negative self-views. A number of studies also show that women with higher self-esteem also consider themselves a more confident person and that a rise in self-esteem is a positive motivator for changes and innovation.

A positive self-image is an influential one on a person psychologically. The feeling of self-esteem gives you a sense of pride and self-confidence.

2. Your social image

Social status influences the way others view you and your self-image. Social class is the perception and in most cases the reality of other people. Generally, higher class individuals can be stereotyped as better able to think and act on various issues, whereas lower-class individuals are portrayed as low in IQ and have less self-esteem

What you can do to improve your self-esteem

What you can do to improve your self-esteem will vary from person to person.

For me, “The source of my self-esteem issue is really pretty simple: I’ve been a victim of my own fears,” says Kristin Neff, a licensed clinical social worker in New York City. “The biggest culprit in my case was my anxiety about other people’s reactions to me or about being seen as weak.” But there are a lot of other reasons why you hold yourself up to such scrutiny, says Sarah Eich, president of FierceFemininity, a new body positivity brand. Sometimes when we’re in the spotlight, we feel vulnerable. Or, you can become insecure about your appearance and your ability to achieve the goals you set for yourself. But in my experience, a key thing the fear of people’s reactions to you can play is a fear of success. “If you feel like you might be unlovable and a disappointment to other people, it can stop you from doing amazing things,” says Neff. “It’s all about feeling unlovable on some level, for other people.”

What is the key to living life to its fullest?

Achieving the type of self-esteem that brings fulfillment to your life. In order to increase and maintain the level of self-esteem that we desire, we need to first get to the core of each of our thinking processes.

Once this is done, we can begin to identify self-critical thoughts and feelings that keep us from achieving the personal self-esteem that we all desire.

Next steps to take, read this article >> 8 Steps to Improving Your Self-Esteem

[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]

“Why Can’t I Find The Right One?” Find Out if You’re Sabotaging Your Relationships

This Is How to Get Over a Breakup, According to Relationship Experts