SELF-ESTEEM AND SELF-IMAGE

Here are a few tips to help with self-esteem and self image:

Don’t Compare

Everybody is unique and you can’t compare yourself to others and expect things to be the same. Different types of flowers blossom at different times!

Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect

Let go of perfection and acknowledge your accomplishments and mistakes! It’s all a part of the journey and everyone has their own peaks and valleys.

You Decide Who You Are

Don’t feed into other people’s thoughts about who you are. They don’t get to decide, only you do!

Have Self-Compassion

Having compassion for others is easy. Oftentimes, having compassion for yourself is harder. Hug yourself!

Quiet Your Inner Critic

There are enough obstacles trying to tear you down, quiet your inner critic and practice positive self-talk!

A FEW MORE TIPS…

Notice The Positives

It’s so easy to focus on the negative things about ourselves that we completely gloss over the positives. Keep your eyes open!

Challenge The Negative

Challenge negative or inaccurate thinking about yourself. Don’t just believe your inner critic, challenge them and build yourself up instead!

You’ve Come A Long Way

Never forget how far you have come. You are accomplished and have gotten a lot farther than most! This alone is a great

accomplishment and a cornerstone to build from.

Positive Affirmations

Give yourself positive affirmations daily. They have been proven to help you reprogram your brain for more positive thinking. Simply say “I am enough,

exactly as I am at this moment”.

Share Your Insecurities

Don’t bottle up all of your insecurities. Share them with others. Oftentimes just verbalizing them will help.

What is self-esteem?

Self-esteem is your overall opinion of yourself and the internalized feelings of how you truly see and feel about yourself and also combined with how others may view you. This is not limited to physical appearance, as it relates to your physical and intellectual abilities and capacities, as well as your limitations or lack thereof in activities, styles of life, and relationships. As human beings, we are not exempt from having insecurities, as everyone has something that they wish they could change and that is completely normal. But when you have persistent feelings of not feeling worthy, and not feeling good about yourself and who you are, then you may be struggling with some self-esteem issues.

What is self-image?

While Self-esteem is the overarching conglomerate of multiple thoughts and feelings about oneself, self-image is one of the factors that plays into self-esteem. Self-image is how you see yourself in the mirror, in terms of physical appearance but it is also combined with a number of self-impressions you have of yourself internally. A positive self-image will promote a healthy self-esteem in you! It is important to see your body as an instrument and not an ornament. Ornaments may look nice on the outside, but they lack substance like an instrument! Instruments can create and produce, ornaments can’t. “Your body is an instrument to be used for your benefit, and not a burden to drag around, hiding and fixing along the way. Want to develop positive body image? When you learn to value your body for what it can do rather than what it looks like, you improve your body image and gain a more powerful sense of control. The truth is, regardless of what you look like, or what you think you look like, you can feel good about yourself because you are not your appearance.”, Lexie Kite, PhD.