Veering Away from Low Self-Confidence

Posted on February 1, 2018

Having low self-esteem feels like you're looking at life through a filter. You might feel unworthy, or that everything you do will definitely fail. This could result in self-sabotage, which would ultimately cause the self-fulfilling prophecy to come true, thus feeding into a vicious cycle with a feeling of "I knew this would happen". The scariest thing is, one often feels right at home with not trying because one believes that one would fail even if one tried.

While it is no easy feat to break out from such circumstances, we should certainly try to solve these issues. Here are some steps one can take to remove the self-sabotaging aspect of having a low self-esteem.

The first step to solving any problem is recognizing there is one, but this can be tough to do since many of the self-sabotaging actions aren't very obvious. This could be procrastination when applying for a job that you really wanted until the application deadline is over, or perhaps even not resolving an argument with a close friend, causing a rift to grow between the two of you. Most self-sabotaging behavior manifest themselves as inaction towards circumstances, which is hard to spot.

Introspection is an important part of spotting negative behavior perpetuated by our own low self-esteem. One way to increase our self-awareness in this aspect could be to keep a diary of the things we did that day and the motivations behind them.

Having low self-esteem can also be viewed as having low self-confidence, hence the best way to counter this would be to take up activities to improve your self-confidence levels. Step out of your comfort zone, and do something that you would not normally do.


Category(s):Adjusting to Change / Life Transitions, Self-Esteem

Source material from PsychCentral