Self Esteem

Self-esteem is how you think and feel about yourself - the worth you place on your strengths, weaknesses and capabilities. Your self-esteem plays a huge part in dictating how you live your life, the decisions you make, and how you view others. You can have negative or positive self-esteem, but self-esteem is a fluid notion, that fluctuates between the two points.

It’s a very common characteristic for people to continuously compare themselves with those around them. This unhealthy but often uncontrollable act highlights our own insecurities leading to a negative view of ourselves, our life choices and ultimately a negative view of the world we live in. It’s easy to lose sight of the value of our own individuality and feel inadequate and unsatisfied, a very exhausting personality trait.

Symptoms of low self-esteem

• feeling worthless
• feeling incompetent regarding our abilities
• feeling unloved
• being overwhelmed with fear and negative thoughts
• being unrealistic about goals
• being drawn into destructive relationships
• fear of change
• distorted views of self and others

Working to improve your self-esteem takes time, requiring honesty, strength and courage to confront the things in yourself you don’t like and change them. Long-term, it’s a very worthy task which should help you feel better about yourself and your life. Counselling establishes a secure, safe haven from which to explore the self/other dynamic.