In understanding The Signs of Low Self-Esteem, you should first know about self-esteem. Self-esteem is the belief you have about yourself – what you think about the type of person you are, your abilities, the positive and negative things about you and what you expect for your future. If you have healthy self-esteem, your beliefs about yourself will generally be positive. If you have low self-esteem, your beliefs about yourself will often be negative. You will tend to focus on your weakness or mistakes that you have made, and may find it hard to recognize the positive parts of your personality. You may also blame yourself for any difficulties or failures that you have.

What Is Low Self Esteem

Have you ever been dissatisfied or unhappy with yourself? Do you ever think that you are weak, stupid, not good enough, useless, a loser, inferior to other people, ugly, unlovable, or a failure? Although everyone uses these words on themselves at times when they experience a challenging or stressful situation, if you often think about yourself in these terms, then you might have a problem with low self-esteem. Low self-esteem is having a generally negative overall opinion of oneself, judging or evaluating oneself negatively, and placing a general negative value on oneself as a person.

Causes

Your esteem develops from your experiences and relationships from birth. Negative experiences and troubled relationships lower it, and good experiences and strong bonds raise it. No single event or person determines your self-esteem; it develops over time and can change with time and events.

Some factors that can contribute to low self esteem are:

• Difficult childhood experiences
• Difficult life events
• Personality and temperament
• Relationships with other people
• Stress and excessive pressure
• Negative thinking patterns
• Trauma, abuse or bullying
• Social isolation and loneliness
• Mental health problems.

Signs Of Low Self Esteem

• Social withdrawal
• Anxiety and emotional turmoil
• Depression
• Lack of social skills
• Lack of self-confidence
• Eating disorders
• Workaholic behavior
• Self-neglect
• Unreasonable expectations
• Inability to accept compliments
• Treating yourself badly but not others
• Worrying whether you have treated others badly
• Reluctance to take on challenges
• Reluctance to put yourself first
• Reluctance to trust your own opinion
• Expecting little out of life for yourself
• Accentuating the negative
• Sexual dysfunction
• Exaggerated concern over what you imagine other people think
• Physical symptoms like fatigue, headaches and insomnia.

Consequences

Although low self-esteem is not a recognized mental health problem, they are closely related to each other and low self-esteem can lead to mental health problems.

• Negative thinking patterns associated with low self-esteem can develop over time and lead to mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety.
• Low self-esteem will make it hard for you to try new things or complete tasks. This can hinder you from living your life the way you want, and lead to frustration and depression over time.

Treatments For Low Self Esteem

A healthy self-esteem is developed during childhood, so it is important for children to be raised in a loving, yet sturdy environment guided by strong moral values. If you are suffering from a negative self-image, you should understand that this is a deep-rooted problem. In order to overcome low self-esteem, it is necessary to break the cycle that keeps it going. The route to higher self-esteem, and thinking more positively about yourself includes:

• Acceptance – of your true strengths and weaknesses
• Help – with realistic goals to allow you to develop your abilities
• Encouragement – with realistic planning and timetabling
• Praise – for your achievements so you can enjoy them
• Respect – to be proud of who you are
• Trust – feel more confident in your own thoughts and feelings
• Be kinder towards other people – when you are kinder towards others you tend to treat and think of yourself in a kinder way too.
• Time – learn to know yourself and enjoy your own thoughts.
• Try something new – when you try something new when you challenge yourself in a small or bigger way and go out of your comfort zone then your opinion about yourself goes up.
• Do not compare – when you compare your life with other people’s lives then you have a destructive habit on your hands. Compare yourself to yourself, and focus on you, your results, how you can and how you have improved your results. This will motivate you and raise your self-esteem.

Meditation

Meditation is a very effective way to improve your productivity and strengthen your confidence because on a fundamental level it can help you develop a better connection with the deeper, core part of yourself. True self-esteem has to be built on a foundation of self-awareness and this self-awareness lets you understand your strengths and weaknesses on a deep and intimate level. Meditation helps facilitate that self-awareness.

Herbs

Some herbs, such as Lemon Balm, Valerian, Siberian Ginseng, Peppermint and Red Clover may help increase self-esteem as they relieve stress and anxiety and boost energy.

Therapy

Professional psychotherapy is a very important avenue and resource that can peel back years of hurt and begin a new work towards a rewarding life. A therapist helps you to understand that your life has a purpose, value and meaning. It is very important for you to discover your purpose, as lack of understanding is a frequent cause of low self-worth. The emotions that are tied to your negative assumptions maintain a hold on you from feeling a sense of value and identity. By identifying and understanding events in life that have contributed to your low self-esteem, a therapist is able to resolve those feelings and provide hope and release from harmful beliefs.

Spiritual Counseling

As belief in God is a deep, fundamental part of many people, the best help can come through spiritual counseling, such as a pastor, a priest, or a spiritual counselor. A rich spiritual life has an immense and positive effect on how you view yourself.

Nothing is more important than how you feel and think about yourself. A high opinion about yourself and who you are and what you do and basically a love for yourself is all you need to overcome low self-esteem.