“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Reasons for Low Self Esteem
Self esteem is an issue often explored during counselling. Beliefs about ourselves are learned as a result of the experiences we have had especially from our early life. The beliefs we have about ourselves are often from conclusions we arrive at based on what has happened so far, this means at some point it made sense to have those beliefs. Unfortunately, as life goes on we don’t update them and can carry them into the present situation based on old, outdated information.
There can be many reasons for a person to feel low self esteem. Often, messages from our childhood get stuck in a loop and a person may repeat such beliefs, consciously or subconsciously, to oneself. Messages such as, ‘you’re stupid, be seen and not heard, can’t do anything right, will fail, you’re fat, you’re ugly’ etc, can be believed. We strongly come to believe the negative statements about ourself and it’s not surprising when we feel bad and experience strong negative emotions.
Emotions that we might feel
- depressed
- hurt
- angry
- frustrated
- anxious
- guilty….
Thoughts that feed low self esteem
Negative, self-critical
I’m so stupid, I’m worthless, It’s my fault, I’m a failure, I’m not good enough, I’m incompetent.
Unhelpful Thinking Habits which might include
Mental Filter, Mind Reading, Self Blame, Internal Critic, Compare & Despair, Shoulds and Musts, Black and White Thinking
Behaviours that we develop
- try to please others
- get defensive when we believe we’re being criticised
- under-achieve or work harder to compensate and cover up our incompetence
- shy and passive around others
- avoid situations and people
- neglect or abuse ourselves
Other behaviours might include self sabotage, taking blame but not credit, blaming others, being secretive, holding grudges, not being able to receive, seeing what is wrong with every thing, trying to be different, attempting to be perfect, being accident prone, putting yourself in abusive situations and maintaining an uncomfortable mental and physical position.