Self-Esteem is how you feel about yourself.
The more you like who you are, the higher your self-esteem will be. How you
feel about yourself affects EVERYTHING YOU DO.
Self-esteem starts from what others think about us. As we accept or reject
these messages, our self-esteem is formed.
If we got positive messages about ourselves as children, chances are we have
high self-esteem or
If we got negative messages, we probably have low self-esteem.
How does self-esteem help us?
People with high self-esteem believe in themselves. They tend to think of
mistakes or problems as a chance to grow and change and have:
A positive attitude
Good judgment
Good problem-solving skills
Healthy, close relationships
Confidence in new situations
How can low self-esteem hurt us?
People with low self-esteem don’t believe in themselves.
Mistakes or problems can make them feel like failures and lead to serious
problems:
A negative attitude
Poor judgment
Poor problem-solving skills
Unhappy relationships
Being nervous in new situations
Self esteem can be changed!
If you received negative messages as a child, you may feel badly about
yourself now, but we can change how we feel about ourselves as we learn to
judge ourselves more fairly.
Listen closely to what you say about yourself. Do you call yourself “not
good enough”? Noticing negative thinking is the fist step toward changing it.
Notice positive things about yourself. Cheering up a friend or being on time
to class are all positive strengths.
Work to change things about yourself that you don’t like. If you don’t like
your grades, study harder.
Take responsibility for what you do. Blaming a teacher or friend for poor
grades won’t help you become a better student.
If you have bad feelings about yourself a lot of the time, you can get help-
see your counselor***
1995 Karen Ross, ETR Associates
A nonprofit organization
