What is Self-Esteem?
People use the words 'confidence' or 'self-esteem' every single day, but how many of us know what it actually is? Is it how you feel, or is it how you think?
Let’s start with understanding the term “self-esteem.” You might have heard and seen similar words like “self-image”, “confidence”, “self-perception”, and “self-concept.” All these terms refer to the way we view and think about ourselves. As human beings, we have the ability to not only be aware of ourselves but also to place a value or a measure of worth to ourselves or aspects of ourselves.
So, self-esteem usually refers to how we view and think about ourselves and the value that we place on ourselves as a person or individual. Having the human capacity to judge and place value to something is where we might run into problems with self-esteem. Therefore, depending how positive or negative these judgement are of ourselves (thoughts), can impact on the way we feel e.g, sad, low, and low in confidence.
To test how good your self-esteem is, take a few minutes to write a short description of yourself right now....
Once you have done this, ask yourself the questions below....
How did you describe yourself? What words did you use? Is your description of yourself generally positive, balanced, or negative? What value did you place on yourself or aspects of yourself? Is that value positive, balanced, or negative?
