Strengthening your self-esteem is an important step to build more self-confidence and to go through life more upright and mindful. We give you tips for this.
Why is it so difficult for us to respect ourselves?
In many areas of our society, it is primarily about rendered Services, For example, we have to have the best possible grades in school and university and work through as much as possible in many professions as quickly as possible.
This is why we often tend to make our self-esteem dependent on numbers and performance. We talk to ourselves that we can only appreciate ourselves when we have reached a certain goal. The problem is that most of the time there is another goal that needs to be achieved. So finally we are in one hamster wheel caught, trying to keep going, getting better and better
This has little to do with self-esteem, because it is not dependent on performance and numbers. Self-esteem means that you respect the person you are, And you don’t have to “create” anything for that, you just have to be yourself.
That sounds easy, but it is often more difficult than expected. Therefore, be aware that there is no uniform recipe and no crash course for self-esteem. Self-esteem does not arise overnight, but is one processwho accompanies us all our life, on which we are constantly working and in which we always have to accept setbacks.
That’s not how self-respect works
First of all, you should be aware of the factors that influence your self-esteem Not depends. These include, for example:
- Grades, degrees, certificates
- your monthly salary and the sum of your bank account
- your weekly working time
- the number on the scale
- Likes, comments and follower numbers on social media
- the number of your friends
- the clothes you wear
- Countries you have already visited
You can continue this list with all the things that basically have nothing to do with your personality and that we often use to define and compare ourselves with other people. All of these superficial aspects are irrelevant to your self-esteem.
So write your own list of all the things you use to define yourself and honestly consider the factors that actually matter yourself as a human and which ultimately only your facade affect. Cross out all aspects that you can assign to the latter with a thick pen.
Get to know you
To strengthen your self-esteem, it is essential to own personality get to know better. Who are you far from all the things you just crossed out? What are your dreams, fears, strengths and weaknesses?
We mostly know ourselves so badly that we are unable to fully answer these questions. This is because, in the hectic pace of everyday life, we lose sight of ourselves and listen to ourselves. But only when you know yourself well and are aware of your personality can you begin to accept, respect and appreciate it.
A good foundation for dealing with your character more is theories about personality types. These offer you various clues with which you can better describe your own personality. You don’t have to be in a category or get a specific result.
It is enough that you start to think more deeply about certain questions and observe more carefully how you react to certain situations and which feelings and thoughts arise. If you want to learn more about personality types and different theories, you can drop in here: Personality types: these are the 3 most popular approaches
Practice acceptance
When you start dealing with yourself and your personality more, you should accept your weaknesses with acceptance instead of shame or frustration to encounter. Realize that there are things for everyone that are naturally easier or harder for them. And everyone has to fight with fears and knows in retrospect the feeling of wanting to have reacted differently to a situation.
Therefore, practice acceptance. Accept your strengths, but also your weaknesses. Accept all aspects of your personality with as little judgment as possible. A good way to train your acceptance of yourself is meditation,
- There are many different types of meditation. In the most common forms, you concentrate on perceiving your body, your surroundings and, above all, your breath.
- You simply watch how your breath comes and goes.
- It usually happens automatically that your thoughts wander off again and again. As soon as you notice this, you simply take the thought as it is and gently bring the focus back to the breath.
- If you have never meditated, a guided meditation is recommended to start with. You can get more information here: Guided meditation: these are the advantages
Self-esteem through positive affirmations
Another method you can use to promote your acceptance and self-esteem are so-called positive affirmations. It is conscious positively worded sentencesthat you say to yourself every day.
They often relate to goals that you want to achieve. The idea behind this is that simply by reciting the beliefs, you will increasingly believe that you will achieve this goal and will therefore be able to mobilize much more strength.
This principle can also be applied to self-respect. Because even in this case you can consciously direct your thoughts in a certain direction by formulating your goals in positive statements and reciting them to yourself every day.
For example, you can do this immediately after getting up to start the day with the right energy. The sentences are particularly effective if you say them in front of the mirror and look yourself in the eye.
Some possible beliefs include:
- I appreciate and respect my personality with all my strengths and weaknesses.
- It’s good to be who I am.
- I pay attention to my thinking and consciously choose healthy thoughts.
- I am worthy of the path I have taken.
- I am free to love and enjoy life.
- I am enough.
- I am happy to be myself.
- I am at peace with myself and with life.
Do you respect your fellow human beings?
Last but not least, you should also observe how you meet other people. Because we often relate the way we rate other people to ourselves. If you tend to quickly judge others, you also show probability of little tolerance towards yourself.
If you meet your fellow human beings with acceptance, patience and forbearance, it is more likely that you will also treat yourself in this way. So if you notice bad thinking about someone, stop. Then ask yourself whether these thoughts are justified and are taking you further at that moment. If not, push them aside and deliberately focus on other things.
Read more on Techzle.com:
- Learning to love yourself: Tips and exercises for the loved one
- Resilience: This is how you train your mental resilience
- Perfectionism – high demands do not become a problem