The way you feel about yourself affects how and why you do everything in life. If you feel good about who you are, then this will be reflected in your appearance, words and actions. Self-esteem is very much dependent on how you treat yourself; taking care of your own feelings and needs will help you to feel good about yourself, so that you know that you are worthy of happiness.
Take a look through the following questions to find out if you have a healthy level of self-esteem. Try to be completely honest; make sure that your answers reflect how you actually feel, rather than how you'd like to feel.
- Are you generally optimistic about your life?
- Can you express yourself in company with ease?
- Can you take constructive criticism?
- Do you deserve to be happy?
- Do you feel that your opinions matter even if they seem to be different from other people's?
- Do you find it easy to make good friends?
- Do you find it relatively easy to say "No"?
- Do you like yourself as a person?
- Do you manage to control your anger or temper?
- Do you tackle problems individually rather than let them stack up?
- Do you think that you are basically a decent, caring person?
- Do you think that you deserve to be loved?
- Do you willingly take risks, knowing that making mistakes is an essential part of moving forward?
- Have you something emotionally worth giving to someone else?
- When you do well are you proud of your achievements?
If you answered "Yes" to at least ten questions, then your self-esteem is reasonably healthy. However, any less than seven and you may need to take a look at what could be preventing you from being happy in yourself.
If you have a low self-esteem, you may find that you arrange your life so that you are constantly busy and surround yourself with other people, simply because you don't feel happy or relaxed in your own company. It's important to spend some time on your own every now, you'll soon learn to enjoy the time and space you've given yourself and more importantly, you'll learn that you deserve it. Ideally, try to spend half an hour every day in peaceful relaxation; switch off your phone and TV, put your feet up and just unwind.
Read on for more helpful tips and ideas on improving your self-esteem ...
