I could take an educated guess that most of you reading this are most likely to be teenagers. As we all know, adolescence is quite a difficult time of exams, relationships and friends. More often than not, it is also the time where most of our self esteems plummet to basically no existent as we struggle to love what makes us, us. Self esteem is defined as a person's overall subjective emotional evaluation of their own worth. It is a judgement of oneself as well as an attitude toward the self.
But why talk about it? Over the course of ones lifetime, the self esteem experienced can alter form high to low due to external influences we come across throughout. Someone experiencing positive self esteem will generally approach things thinking they are a good person who deserves love and support and can succeed in life. Someone with a low/negative self esteem will generally think they are not good at things, don't deserve love or support and that situations will work out badly for them.
Many different factors come into play with whether someone is experiencing low or high self esteem. Moving school, health problems, family difficulties, bereavement, being bullied etc can all change the type of self esteem someone is currently feeling. Dependent on the person, some bounce back after time whereas some struggle with loving who they are again.
Teenagers often have lower self esteems because of coping with the pressure of peers, body image, grades and parents. Teenage years are difficult, we are socially expected to look and act in a desirable way which can be something that people find uncomfortable. It can make teens think that who they are, isn't good enough for everyone else and then begin to assume that means they aren't even good enough for themselves. Its quite sad, don't you think?
As most of us probably know, poor self esteem can lead to more serious mental illnesses such as eating disorders, depression and anxiety. Being lead to believe that the parts of you others adore, are worhtless is such a punch in the gut. No one should believe that what makes them the person they are isn't good enough for themselves.
When you think about yourself and parts of your personality, appearance etc many tend to focus on the one person who doesn't accept you compared to all those who do. You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserves your love and affection. The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.
Take a moment and think, do I love me? If yes, your heading in the right direction. If no, believe in the positives others around you say and focus your attention on the things you value as good qualities. In this world we should being by saying: 'I'm good at...' or 'I like this part of my personality' because it shows you value yourself and that if one person finds it obnoxious, another will find it brave. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely but is worth it because of the happiness one will experience by acceptance.
Self esteem is as important to our well being as legs are to a table. It is essential for physical and mental health but more importantly, it is essential for happiness. If anything take one thing from this 'don't base your self esteem on others opinions' and I am sure you will do just fine
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