Raising Your Self-Esteem in a Timely Manner

Poor self-esteem stands to impact every area of your life. From work to personal relationships to leisure time, low self-esteem can turn your entire existence into an arduous chore. So, if your self-esteem is currently on the wane, there’s no time like the present to bring the situation under control. Fortunately, combating low self-esteem isn’t nearly as challenging as many of us have to believe. Anyone looking to raise their self-esteem in a timely and low-stress manner would do well to consider the following options.

Commit to Mental Healthcare

In addition to being a mental health issue unto itself, low-esteem is often a byproduct of existing mental health issues. So, if you’re currently afflicted with low-esteem, there’s a good chance it was facilitated by other problems. And until you get a handle on your mental health, poor self-esteem and various other issues are only going to persist.

That being the case, you’d do well to make mental healthcare a priority. Committing to therapy or counseling, for example, can do wonders for both your self-esteem and long-term mental health. So, if you’ve consistently found excuses to avoid going to therapy, now would be a good time to stop lying to yourself. For instance, if you’ve told yourself that you’re simply too busy to commit to therapy, look for therapists who offer remote sessions. With the COVID-19 pandemic still presenting a very real threat, a growing number of mental healthcare professionals have become increasingly amenable to offering their services remotely. Similarly, if you’ve always told yourself that therapy is too expensive, seek out a therapist who charges on a scale – or a community clinic that provides mental health services for free. Once you stop making excuses, you’re liable to find that you have a lot more mental healthcare options than you thought.   

Stop Comparing Yourself to Other People

Waning self-esteem and constant comparisons to other people go hand-in-hand. No matter how much success some individuals find or how content they are with their respective lives, they believe that their accomplishments pale in comparison to other people’s, thereby making them worthless. This is why it’s important to understand that regardless of how impressive your life is, there are always going to be people who have accomplished more. This doesn’t make your own accomplishments any less praise-worthy or diminish the life you’ve built in any way.

Unfortunately, in the age of social media, it’s become all-too-easy for people to compare their lives to others’. For example, seeing that an old friend has gotten married can sting if you’re single and feeling lonely. Similarly, learning that someone you know has landed an amazing job may bring you down if you’re currently stuck in a career that brings you no satisfaction.

For starters, you need to understand that most people only share the best parts of their lives on social media. In all likelihood, your friends are not leading perfect existences and are contending with plenty of problems of their own. Furthermore, it’s practically a given that they have people next to whom they feel inadequate. As such, constantly comparing yourself to others simply doesn’t pay. We all have our own ideas of what constitutes success and our own personal circumstances, and measuring your success against the success of others is practically guaranteed to feed into low self-esteem. 

Actively Help Others

People-pleasing should be avoided for a number of reasons. Not only does it create the impression that your needs are inherently less important than the needs of others, it fosters the idea that you only have worth if you’re constantly giving your all for the people around you. 

On the flipside, getting involved with charity and actively helping those in need can be a boon to your self-esteem. Taking part in food drives, volunteering at shelters and organizing local cleanup efforts are all great ways to give back to the community while boosting your self-esteem. You should consider paying it forward at blood donation events, especially if you have the O blood type.

Poor self-esteem should never be allowed to go unchecked. Given the tremendous impact our self-esteem has on everything we do, it’s important to challenge feelings of doubt and worthlessness every time they rear their heads. Luckily, taking on such opponents doesn’t have to leave you physically or mentally exhausted. Effectively combating low self-esteem is well within your abilities – especially if you keep the previously discussed tips at the ready