Dealing with low self-esteem is something that the large majority of people go through at one point or another. When our self-esteem is higher, we not only feel better about ourselves but we become more resilient as well. Higher sense of self-esteem within an individual makes the emotional wounds such as rejection, loss, failures seem less painful. Such people tend to bounce back more quickly. Thus, everyone is in favour of high self-esteem but cultivating it can be surprisingly tough.
The process of building self-esteem starts off with getting yourself out of the downward spiral. People with low self-esteem tend to think very little of themselves due to which they often fail to take care of themselves. Daily tasks like taking baths, grooming yourself might take a backseat. People may also find themselves indulging in substance abuse and other vices. If we don’t take care of ourselves, our body and mind feels worse and that lowers our self-esteem even more. This is what can be called as a downward spiral or cycle which we need to break out of. We are required to make conscious decisions of reversing our patterns and take better care of ourselves. The idea is if we get out of the loop, things start to look better and better. If we change the way we treat ourselves, the way we feel about ourselves changes too.
The second step is to keep a check on our self-talk. Our internal dialogue with ourselves has a prominent impact on our thought process more than we ever think. We can start by recognizing our thoughts. Often times, we say negative things to ourselves without much notice. It may just play in the background but that affects our perception about our own self badly. The more repetitive the thought is, the more we tend to believe it. Hence, recognizing such thoughts, taking notice of them and reframing them, helps a lot. Such a practice may also help in enhancing our awareness towards ourselves. Meditation and journaling might prove extremely useful in such cases.
Of course, these practices may not produce results overnight. This may take months of slow practice and conscious efforts but it may surely counter the negativity and gradually help us to increase and build lasting self-esteem.