Self-esteem and personal development
What is self-esteem and personal development?
Self-esteem is a person’s ability to value, love, and accept oneself. The development of self-esteem occurs in middle childhood, where the individual compares his or her “real self” with an “ideal self” and with the people around him or her.
Personal development is the actions and changes that we implement in our life to have new behaviors and attitudes that are better and more positive than the ones we had before.
What are the symptoms?
Maintaining a good self-esteem allows us to be happier and have more self-confidence. This will allow us to help our environment to feel the same way. The signs that will indicate that our self-esteem is not at its best level are: lack of self-confidence, not expressing an opinion for fear of being rejected or thinking that opinions do not have the same value as those of others, feeling that we are not worthy of positive situations, lack of effort when thinking that we will not be able to achieve what we want, needing the approval of others often, not feeling happy, not feeling happy, being demotivated quickly, feeling nervous during the day, feeling guilty, unattractive or lacking initiative.
Causes of self-esteem and self-development or why it occurs
The causes of poor self-esteem can be stagnation in the kind of life we lead, suffering some kind of emotional disorder such as depression, anxiety, some kind of phobia, sleep problems that alter the usual rhythm of life.
Can it be prevented?
To maintain a good self-esteem we must avoid negative thoughts and when they arise we must turn them into positive ones. Another action is to be realistic with our virtues and defects, without demanding ourselves to be one hundred percent perfect, but being self-critical and learning from what we do not do well. Faced with a bad situation we must face it and accept it. Setting realistic goals will help our well-being and if we fail, we must be prepared, without blaming ourselves for our mistakes. We should not compare ourselves with anyone, if we envy and idealize the life of others, it will provoke a feeling of failure.
What does the treatment consist of?
A psychological treatment to increase self-esteem is based on performing a series of exercises such as those mentioned above. All this training leads people to feel positive and recognize their own value. Improving self-esteem has repercussions in our personal life (either with ourselves or in social relationships) and also in our professional life. For all these reasons, the study of self-esteem and the creation of behavioral patterns to improve it is fundamental in psychology. Actions such as going to a psychologist, meditation or reading certain manuals or self-help books can make it easier to be more active in the creation of positive ideas.