Self-esteem is about seeing yourself for who you are and accepting those qualities. It’s a measure of your opinion of yourself when it comes to personal strengths, abilities, appearance, or capabilities.
Having healthy self-esteem can lead to positive outcomes in your personal and professional life. You’ll feel happier, more confident, and optimistic about the future.
Those with higher self-esteem are also less prone to stress, anxiety, and depression.
Healthy self-esteem enables you to see beyond anyone’s shallow judgment of you as a person — whether that’s an old friend who no longer knows you well or a creepy stranger who makes unwanted advances.
These 8 tips will help improve your self-esteem so you can feel better about yourself regardless of what anyone else thinks:
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Practice self-care daily.
One of the best ways you can improve your self-esteem is by practicing self-care regularly. This means taking care of your mental, physical and emotional health.
You can start by creating a daily self-care routine that includes things like getting enough sleep, eating a balanced diet, managing your stress, and spending time doing things that are meaningful to you.
If you’re not sure how to get started, there are lots of self-help books and online resources that can guide you. Aside from these basics, you can also enhance your self-esteem by practicing other forms of self-care.
For example, you might try journaling, meditating, taking yoga classes, or investing in therapy — whatever feels like a good fit for you. Self-care is also about looking after your relationships with others.
Spend time with positive, supportive friends and family members who see you for who you are. You might also want to consider joining a group that shares your interests.
By investing in these important relationships, you can help build your self-esteem.
Be grateful for what you have
One surefire way to boost your self-esteem is by practicing gratitude. An emotion that’s closely linked to self-esteem, gratitude can help you see the good in your life.
You can write down a list of things that you’re grateful for every day, or make it a habit to share appreciation with loved ones. One study found that gratitude exercises can increase self-esteem, optimism, happiness, and more.
Even going a week without expressing gratitude was found to reduce self-esteem, suggesting that gratitude is a habit worth cultivating. The more you practice gratitude, the more it can improve your self-esteem over time.
You can also make gratitude a daily habit by writing down three things you’re grateful for at the end of each day.
Studies suggest that this practice is related to higher levels of optimism, engagement, and self-esteem. So if you want to boost your self-esteem, try practicing gratitude.
Be proud of your past accomplishments
Whether you’re proud of graduating from high school, learning a new language, or completing a challenging project at work, you can use these things to build your self-esteem.
You don’t have to be the best at something to be proud of your accomplishments. In fact, there’s a strong connection between self-esteem and failing.
You need to be willing to risk failure in order to learn, grow and expand your abilities. When you’re proud of what you’ve accomplished, it reflects well on your self-esteem.
You’ll feel more confident and optimistic about the future. When you’re proud of what you’ve accomplished, it reflects well on your self-esteem. You’ll feel more confident and optimistic about the future.
You can also use your past successes to propel yourself forward by setting goals for the future. Creating SMART goals can help you boost your self-esteem by setting yourself up for success.
Set realistic goals for the future
One of the best ways to improve your self-esteem is by setting and achieving goals that are important to you.
Whatever your goals are — whether they’re related to your career, relationships, fitness, or something else — they can help you feel good about yourself.
You can set goals for anything from reading a certain number of books in a year to improving communication with your loved ones. You can also set goals related to your self-esteem.
One common way to do this is by building up your self-confidence. You can do this by identifying your strengths and weaknesses. Then, you can set goals for how to improve your weaknesses and celebrate your successes.
Don’t compare yourself to others
Comparing yourself to others can be something of a vicious cycle. It often leads to feelings of inadequacy and lower self-esteem when the comparison is negative (i.e. you don’t have as many friends as someone else or you don’t make as much money).
On the other hand, it can also cause you to lose sight of your own qualities and accomplishments if the comparison is positive (i.e. a friend has a successful career and travels a lot, while you stay at home with your family).
Regardless of whether the comparison is positive or negative, it can hurt your self-esteem. Instead, try to focus on your own qualities, abilities, and accomplishments.
Remember that no two people are exactly alike, and there will always be someone who’s better at something than you are. That’s just a fact of life. But when you’re focusing on yourself, you have the opportunity to grow and learn.
You can set goals for yourself and achieve them. Don’t waste time comparing yourself to others — focus on yourself instead.
Exercise and eat healthy
Your physical and mental health are closely connected. It’s especially important when it comes to improving your self-esteem. This is because low self-esteem can lead to unhealthy habits like skipping meals, smoking cigarettes, and avoiding exercise.
On the other hand, practicing healthy habits can reduce stress, boost your mood and increase your self-esteem. You don’t have to go to the gym every day or follow an extreme diet to see improvements.
Even simple things like eating more fresh fruit, vegetables, and fiber and walking for 30 minutes every day can help. Studies show that regular exercise can improve self-esteem and mood in both the short- and long-term.
It can also reduce anxiety and improve self-confidence. Similarly, eating healthy can help improve your self-esteem. Research suggests that eating a healthy, balanced diet can improve both your mental and physical health.
By eating healthy foods, you can reduce stress, boost your mood and increase your self-esteem. So don’t forget to take care of your physical self. It can help improve your self-esteem over time.
Find therapeutic activities that make you feel good
While improving your physical health is important, so is engaging in mental and emotional self-care. This includes finding ways to reduce stress and engaging with activities that make you feel good.
You can do this by indulging in activities like reading books, going to movies, or spending time in nature. These things can help decrease negative thoughts that are linked to low self-esteem.
They can also improve your mood and self-esteem over time. If you’re feeling particularly stressed, you might also want to consider finding a therapist.
Therapy can be an effective way to improve your self-esteem by addressing any underlying issues. You can also find support groups to help you work through challenges or struggles. These types of activities can help improve your self-esteem over time.
Be kind to yourself
The final tip on how to improve your self-esteem is to be kind to yourself. This means being gentle with yourself, even when you make mistakes or fall short of your own expectations.
It’s all too easy to put a lot of pressure on yourself to perform well in every aspect of your life. This kind of constant self-criticism can actually be destructive to your self-esteem.
One way to break this pattern is by being kinder to yourself. This can help you build stronger self-esteem by engaging in positive self-talk and reducing negative self-criticism.
It can also help you reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. Another way to be kinder to yourself is by practicing mindfulness. This can help you reduce stress and anxiety by focusing on the present moment.
It can also help you improve your self-esteem by making you more confident in yourself, more patient with others, and less worried about what’s to come.