Having low self-esteem can have a negative impact on virtually every aspect of your life, including your health, professional career, and your relationships. It’s impossible to have a positive outlook on life if you have low self-esteem. Thankfully, there are several ways to successfully improve it.
1 – Do the Right Thing
A great way to improve your self-esteem is to do something good. It doesn’t matter if you decide to donate some old clothes, volunteer, or simply be kind to strangers. As long as you help others, you will help yourself.
By doing something good and showing gratitude, you will feel better about yourself and you’ll come to the realization that your life may have a bigger purpose than you thought. This will without a doubt strengthen your self-esteem and make you look forward to life’s upcoming adventures.
2 – Write Three Things that You Appreciate About Yourself
Nothing will improve your self-esteem like learning how to love yourself and be comfortable in your own skin. In order to help you appreciate yourself, it’s a good idea to write down three things that you love about yourself every other night before you go to bed. You don’t have to write down a particularly huge quality.
For example, you can write how you like that you always take a minute to chat with your neighbors every time you see them. Upon waking up, make sure to read the things that you wrote down, just so that you remember how much you love yourself.
3 – Stop Your Inner Critic
We all have an inner critic, who can greatly influence how we feel and how we handle certain situations. In order to improve your self-esteem, you will need to silence your inner critic and learn how to get through situations without judging yourself or other people.
An inner critic is a term used to describe that voice in your head that constantly whispers negative thoughts. It’s that voice that tells you that you are uglier or worse than your friends or co-workers. It’s the same voice that fills you up with insecurity and gradually destroys your self-esteem.
4 – Handle Failure in a Positive Way
Whenever you leave your comfort zone and try to accomplish something even remotely challenging, you will be faced with some tough situations that will make you stumble and fall. While many see failing as a sign to stop what they’re doing (or in other words, give up), strong individuals see it as something that’s completely normal and expected.
A strong individual will always find a way to observe a failure from a different standpoint and use it to learn something significant. Learning from your mistakes will make you more cautious and will help you avoid the same mistakes twice.
5 – Try Something New
It’s good to go outside of your comfort zone every once in a while. Trying something new will make you challenge yourself in a small or bigger way. Sometimes, you will become successful at what you’re doing, other times you will fail.
However, even when you fail, you’ll be able to learn some very valuable lessons. However, simply by challenging yourself and going outside of your comfort zone will make you realize just how brave you are, which will definitely strengthen your self-esteem.
6 – Surround Yourself with Supportive People
The people that you surround yourself with can have a huge impact on the way you think and feel. If you’re constantly surrounded by destructive people, then you will most likely have low self-esteem. However, being around someone that appreciates and supports you will make you believe in yourself and increase both your confidence and self-esteem.
