No one is perfect. This essentially means that everyone has things about themselves that they don’t like or wish to improve. It only becomes a problem when those imperfections start to hinder every aspect of your life. Dwelling on the negatives and your weaknesses will only lower your self-esteem and could cause serious health problems. Just how does not liking your nose, stomach fat, or having limited belief in your ability to accomplish things impact you? The following is an in-depth look.
Emotional Overwhelm
When you’re not confident and sure of yourself, it impacts your mental wellbeing. Think about it. If you don’t like your smile, you’re not confident you can complete a task at home or work, or you’re always picking out the worse in yourself, this is going to dredge up some negative feelings. These emotions can include sadness, embarrassment, hopelessness, anger, resentment, stress, anxiety, and even depression.
Perfection Obsession
People with low self-esteem can become obsessed with being perfect. You will do or try anything to eliminate those things you don’t like about yourself. However, what many learn that despite the hoops you might jump through to make changes, there’s always something else you could be working on to make yourself perfect. When you have low self-esteem you nit-pick at everything that’s wrong with you. So, as you resolve one thing you might not like about yourself, you’ll always feel deep down that you need to do more.
Limited Self-Care
When you feel like you’re not worthy or hopeless, you tend to stop caring for yourself as you should. You don’t focus much on things like proper nutrition, a good night’s sleep, and increased physical activity. Because… What’s the point? Neglecting your basic needs to eat, sleep, and stay active, however, will backfire. Your appearance deteriorates, your health declines, therefore, causing you to feel even worse about yourself.
Ruined Love Life
Having low self-esteem can wreak havoc on a relationship. Because you don’t feel confident about yourself you push those feelings onto your partner. You become dependent upon them for validation and happiness, you become controlling because you’re fearful you’re not worthy of the relationship and fear infidelity or the loss of your relationship. Since no one wants to be with an overly needy, emotional, or dependent person, the relationship often takes a turn for the worse.
People Pleasing
Most people who suffer from low self-esteem look to others for validation and acceptance. They will go above and beyond simply to get people to like them even if this means they sacrifice their own needs in the process. Helping people when they’re in need is an effective way to boost your confidence. However, trying to help or please people simply so they’ll like you more is exhausting and impossible. You can’t make everyone happy all the time and trying to will drain your energy, dampen your mood, and increase your stress.
Limited Ability to Succeed
Another problem that people with low self-esteem have to deal with is hindering themselves from succeeding. When you’re not confident in your own abilities, you miss out on a lot of positive opportunities. You don’t perform your best at home or in the office because, in your mind, it’s hopeless.
How to Boost Your Self-Esteem
Now that you realize just how terrible life can be with low self-esteem, it’s time to change how you feel about yourself. While it can take some time to build, here are a few suggestions on how you can work at building your self-esteem.
Words of Affirmation – When you’re constantly putting yourself down all the time, it leads to more negative emotions and health problems. To boost your self-esteem, start writing down small positive phrases. Read and repeat these sentences when you get negative thoughts throughout the day. Reading them reminds you of the good in your life taking your mind off those imperfections.
Write Down Your Strengths – There’s nothing that can make a person feel better than seeing in writing all the things they are good at. Take some time to compile a list of all the things you’re good at.
Change What You Can – You may not be able to resolve everything you don’t like about yourself. Rather than dwelling on what can’t be done, however, it is best to focus on what you can. If you don’t like your bra size, stomach fat, or nose, perhaps you can talk to a plastic surgeon. You can find out what procedures they recommend, what to expect, and even determine the expenses like facial reconstruction costs so you can prepare your budget accordingly. If you’re not confident in your performance at work, look into professional training or college courses you can take to increase your knowledge and improve your work performance.
Boosting your self-esteem or confidence won’t be an easy feat. It takes a lot of practice to get out of your mind and realize just how great you already are. If your low self-esteem has started impacting your life or health, however, it is imperative to utilize strategies like those discussed above to improve the way you view yourself.
