Self Esteem. A funny thing. It’s so easily lost and so hard to gain. It often pairs I think with confidence, but more so confidence in yourself. A lot of the time self esteem is linked to your personal mental health, some thrive, some get by, and others struggle, it’s ok no matter what your level of self esteem is.
Why write about self esteem when I am doing just fine. Well I wasn’t always. I struggled so much throughout my entire life as it ebbed and flowed. My youth I was on the lower levels as I never did anything to help gain it, at least until I started doing karate. Which for me was a way to gain confidence in myself, my abilities and my fitness levels. By my late teens my self esteem was thriving and I needed no more encouragement. This followed on into my young adult life too. But I hit a road block.
The Coronavirus/Covid 19 pandemic, meant I lost it all. I had none left. I didn’t even want to go to work, leave the house or talk to anyone. I shut myself away. Was this the best thing to do no, but what does one do when you live alone and are basically under house arrest for the better part of a year or two.
I will never get to those confidence levels as I had as a young adult. I just can’t be as physically active anymore and have the image I once had, but I can and am learning to accept the new version that is me.
The version of me that allows myself space to not be ok with something, the knowledge that I can’t bring myself to do something just yet, but maybe in the future I will. I’m ok with that.
My self esteem is at the point where it is stable enough for me to live my life with enough confidence that I can go out again, talk to people, be wrong, try new things, be ok with limitations, and just generally understand I am not perfect at everything and I never will be.
But what about yourself. Well there’s no instant result thats for sure.
If you’re looking for the answers the best person to turn to is yourself.
Ask yourself what did I do on the day I felt great that one time and why? That time I got that really good result why did I feel amazing about it? When I felt loved that time what do I need to do to get that same connection again?
Things that make you feel great, things that make you feel like you can do it, things that help you not get out, that walk around the park, that internet chat room (be careful with these), the mental health support line maybe. They all can point you in the direction of building your own self esteem.
There is one key thing to remember!
It is a slow process and you will fail but you will get up and try again and again until you make it. So just go for it!
VPCreativ 