Identifying low self esteem

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I like myself?
• Do I deserve happiness and success?
• Do I deserve to be loved?

Your answers will give you an idea of whether or not you have healthy self esteem or low self esteem.

Simply put, having healthy self esteem can be described in the following ways:

• Feeling good about yourself with a balanced attitude
• Liking yourself and seeing yourself as equal to your peers
• Not being intimidated by others and their successes and achievements
• Being clear about who you are and happy with yourself in general
• Caring for yourself and recognising and servicing your own needs
• Having a balanced sense of self worth combined with a level of humility

We will look at healthy and unhealthy – or low self esteem in more detail to break down the different components such as thoughts, feelings and behaviour to assess the positive and negative impact self esteem can have in our lives.

The following is a way to understand various ‘self’ statements that are frequently used in our society:

Self Esteem: At what level we value ourselves

Self Confidence: Being self reliant and self assured

Self Image: How we express ourselves (mostly unconscious)

Self Love: Our ability to like ourselves and celebrate our strengths