You probably know that building self-esteem is important for your mental health and wellbeing, and there are many ways you can build your self-esteem. Below is a list of tips for self-esteem building, compiled from posts over the past year.
Achieving Your Goals
It can be hard to feel motivated and confident even on good days. Learn how to feel motivated with this DBT skill. It will get you feeling motivated and more confident fast.
It’s important to do the things you’re not comfortable with to build self-esteem. That means stepping outside of your comfort zone and challenging yourself. Naturally, you may resist doing this because it might make you anxious, fearful or just plain uncomfortable. Stepping outside of your comfort zone does take effort and it might seem easier to do nothing. However, sticking to what you’re familiar with can keep you stuck and it can damage your self-esteem. In order to create change, you need to challenge your negative feelings and do it anyway. Do the things that you’re not comfortable with and build your self-esteem.
Setting intentions can improve your confidence and belief in your abilities. An intention is a like a goal, but more powerful and effective, in my opinion. Intentions are the dreams that you want to achieve and the feelings you want to bring into your life. The short-term gains from setting intentions are that they can help you get a grip on negative thoughts to more neutral or positive ways of thinking the long-term gains from setting intentions may be improved confidence.
It’s important to stop using avoidance to deal with self-esteem issues. While it may sometimes seem easier, avoidance is not a healthy way of coping, and it can cause more problems later on. Issues will still be present and they’ll probably become magnified over time. Avoidance can keep you stuck and it can worsen your self-esteem. Stop using avoidance to deal with your self-esteem issues and find a better way.
Exercise is a powerful way of building self-esteem. It’s a natural mood lifter, it provides a sense of accomplishment and it helps you to look and feel better about yourself. While it’s good for everyone, it’s particularly beneficial if you have a mental health condition such as depression or anxiety. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you get moving. However, it can be challenging to start or maintain exercise especially when you don’t like exercise, don’t feel like it, you’re anxious, depressed, tired or busy. The good news is that there are many ways to exercise and it doesn’t have to be something you dread. You can find ways to exercise and build self-esteem at the same time.
Most people don't have a confident plan to achieve their goals or New Years Resolutions. They go about goal setting all wrong and wind up feeling less confident and more insecure. Don't be one of them. Use the SMART technique in this video to help you feel confident in achieving whatever you desire this year.
Having quality friendships affects self-esteem in a big way. Find out how to make real friends.
To build your self-esteem, you need to step outside your comfort zone. Change requires effort and a different course of action to what you’re used to. It may seem easier to do nothing, however a lack of action can keep you stuck in your present situation. To create change you must be willing to challenge yourself.
The end of the school year is notoriously stressful. Finishing up projects, studying for finals and trying not to freak out about exams can be extremely difficult. It's hard to maintain confidence when everyone around you is stressing and the pressure is at an all time high. The past two weeks I have spent the better half of my time helping my clients who are students feel mentally prepared for success during these trying times.