Self Esteem Is The Best Accessory: How To Get Yours Back
This year has been tough on most of us. Now, at the height of summer, many of us are only just getting comfortable with the idea of leaving our homes, and socialising. Assuming that the area in which we live hasn’t been affected by local lockdowns.
Life is no longer a catwalk for many of us. Indeed, the last few months may have served a crushing blow to our mental health and our self-esteem. A lot of us have been working in bed, or simply straining to find any sort of work after having lost our jobs and our income to the pandemic. The current circumstances may have exacerbated existing issues with self esteem and made us feel like someone we don’t want to be.
You can dress yourself up in expensive clothes, daub yourself in fine fragrances and put on a pair of shoes or watch that cost more than a month’s rent, and you still won’t feel better about yourself. Even for the devoutly fashion conscious, self esteem is the best accessory. Here are some ways in which you can get yours back…
Start your day with self affirmations
Nobody’s denying the external factors that are impacting on your sense of self esteem and self worth. But you can’t control those. You can, however, change your perception of yourself. And self affirmations will help you to do this one day at a time. Self affirmations are a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy technique that encourage you to think more positively and see yourself differently. Yes, you’ll feel unbelievably silly when doing them. Yes, you’ll question whether they’re genuinely helpful or mere mambo jumbo. Nonetheless, they can be surprisingly effective in helping you to combat negative thoughts and feel better about yourself.
Make a start on fixing your foibles
Low self-esteem can make you feel powerless. But whatever’s making you feel less than confident and self-assured, there’s always something you can do about it. Worried about your quarantine-imposed weight gain? You don’t need to go to the gym to start working off those troublesome pounds. Worried about your thinning hair? Try setting up an online consultation with a trichologist and talk about a FUE hair transplant or alternative options. If your lack of income and job opportunities are what’s getting you down, maybe it’s time to eschew the conventional career path and set your sights on a career as a freelancer. Whatever’s getting you down, there’s always something you can do to start fixing your foibles.
Try not to obsess over things you can’t change
It’s easy to feel as though you’re carrying the weight of the world’s problems around with you, from the state of the economy to climate change. And while you should feel outraged and angry about such things, you need to compartmentalise them or they’ll prove your undoing. Donate when you can. Raise awareness when you can. And, of course, vote. But try not to obsess over things you can’t change.
Celebrate little victories
Finally, it’s easy to feel worthless, especially if you’ve lost your job or your income to circumstances that you can’t control. That’s why it’s so important to celebrate little victories. And, yes, there may be days when getting out of bed early in the morning is the closest you get. It’s easy to get crushed under the weight of everything you haven’t accomplished. But seeing the value in what you have achieved (however small it may seem) can be surprisingly powerful.
