What is your self-esteem? How would you describe your qualities, characteristics, and identity?
You might say that you have high self-esteem if you perceive yourself positively.
The way you feel about yourself is what you call self-esteem.
This blog will be about self-esteem and how it affects our daily lives. We will discuss what self-esteem is, how it is formed, and how it can impact our lives in both positive and negative ways.
Self-esteem is distinct from self-confidence and self-worth.
Self-Esteem:
It is your long-term view of your traits, talents, and attributes.
Self-Assurance:
This is your conviction in your talents or understanding that you can manage a specific activity or scenario.
Self-Worth:
It describes how you view your worth and value.
Generally, having a strong sense of self-worth indicates you regard yourself as worthwhile and deserving of respect, affection, and belonging.
Feeling insecure in some situations does not inherently lower your self-esteem. For example, you may lack confidence before beginning painting courses, yet remain confident that you will learn rapidly. After all, you’ve done well in every previous art class, and you know you’re fairly excellent at art in general.
When someone abuses your art, you may feel comfortable setting boundaries with them and blowing it off since your self-worth tells you that you deserve respect.
On the other hand, a lack of self-esteem may impact your confidence in your talents and your feeling of self-worth.
Is strong self-esteem synonymous with narcissism?
People frequently associate narcissism with extremely high self-esteem, although you may have high self-esteem without having a narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) or any narcissistic features.
It’s critical to recognize that NPD is much more than high self-esteem. People with NPD are more likely to have the following:
- A feeling of superiority.
- Dreams about their powers and capabilities that are excessive or exaggerated.
- A strong belief that they are worthy of adoration and attention rather than empathy for the sentiments of others.
People with NPD may appear self-assured and confident on the surface but are insecure and vulnerable on the inside.
The Advantages of Self-Esteem
Social relationships: Higher self-esteem increases the likelihood that you will seek out connections with individuals who value you as much as you value yourself, which can lead to higher relationship pleasure. Furthermore, high self-esteem may make it easier to deal with rejection in relationships.
School performance: As a natural result of having high self-esteem, you may feel more driven and engaged, which might increase your likelihood of being invested in studying and finishing your projects.
Work performance: High self-esteem may strengthen your interactions with coworkers and make you more likely to persevere when presented with problems, resulting in a more satisfying job and higher success.
Mental health: Higher self-esteem may reduce your risks of developing mental health issues such as depression or anxiety, partly because you are less prone to ruminating. Fixating the same gloomy, undesirable, or disturbing thoughts might contribute to anxiety and despair.
Physical health: Self-esteem can indirectly improve physical health since it often means strong, supportive social connections. Nonetheless, the review authors underline the need for additional research.
Antisocial conduct: High self-esteem may make you less likely to engage in antisocial behavior, like bullying, violence, or manipulation. It has been found that people with low self-esteem are more likely to adopt aggressive behavior to gain attention or social dominance, although further research is needed.
How to Develop Self-Esteem
Childhood experiences, such as love and care, rules and expectations, incentives, and praise, influence your self-esteem as an adult, according to Khurana.
According to Khurana, if you have poor self-esteem, you are more prone to:
- Encounter self-doubt.
- Engage in self-deprecation.
- You will discover that you fall short when you compare yourself to others.
- Tending to please others and seek favor.
- Having difficulty establishing boundaries with others.
- Having issues with your interpersonal connections.
