SELF ESTEEM

   Self esteem is merely an opinion of how you see yourself. Jack Canfield in his book "How to get from where you are to where you want to be; The 25 principles of success" defines self esteem as a deep-seated belief that you have what it takes - the abilities, inner resources, talents and skills to create your desired results. They are of two types namely: High self esteem and Low self esteem.

   It is better to have a high self esteem because it enables you to love yourself for who you are and it also helps you see life positively whereas low self esteem does not make you grow as a person and makes achieving success difficult if not impossible.

   Where does self esteem come from? Well, the type of self esteem you develop in childhood is mainly affected by your parents. If they raised you right and praised you for your little achievements, there is a greater chance that you will have a positive view of yourself and life in general. Whereas, if you happen to be raised by parents who are not very caring, then you tend not to see the good qualities you have and end up having a negative view of life.

   Your friends and immediate environment is another factor that affects or determines your self esteem as a person because how we feel about ourselves is often based on the perception of others. Although, if you are able to ignore the negative sentiments then you are okay because then you do not let such affect you.

   Most importantly, self esteem comes from within you. To determine what type of self esteem you have, you can ask yourself some simple questions like:
Do I like who I am?
Am I happy?
Do I think I am a good person?
Most times, the answer is 'Yes' even if you sometimes have doubts about yourself.

   To get rid of these doubts, you should first accept your faults and realize that you are not the only one that has this problem. Everyone has a few flaws that they want to get rid of so you too must have the willingness to change in order to improve yourself.

   Another thing you should accept is that you are different from the others. This is not only in terms of your physical attributes but also in terms of your personality just like each person has his/her own set of fingerprints that can never be duplicated by anyone else.

   Likewise, you can write down on a piece of paper the things you like about yourself and cherish the list. Since we all grow and change every day, try to write down at least one good thing you did daily because this helps you to realize that you are not a bad person after all.

   With a high self esteem, you are less likely to do anything destructive to yourself or to others because you will most likely see the positive sides of life and be optimistic about the future. It also becomes easier for you to believe in yourself and your God given abilities but remember not to confuse it with being overconfident because they are two different things.

   Finally, high self esteem helps you to have an easier time handling problems and resisting negative pressures. But do not forget that it is something you develop over time and not what you are born with. This can change with time if you allow and work towards it.

   Hence, people who feel good about themselves produce good results. Hopefully, you can be better than who you were before rather than the opposite.