We all have occasional moments where we feel down or lack confidence to do something. However, having a lower self-esteem can sometimes hinder our daily activities, making us doubt ourselves or miss great opportunities in life. In order to prevent that from happening, it is important to know how to build up our self-esteem and face life with confidence. Take a look at the following suggestion to see how to cultivate high self-esteem.
Know Your Skills
If you are wondering ‘how can I love myself’, try to find out what you really can do. One of the first steps to becoming confidence about yourself is to know what your competencies or your strengths are. Self-esteem can be developed by showing to yourself what you can really do and achieve. Identify what are your best skills. Are you a good painter? Or a cook? Are you good with ideas and creativity? Or are you good in sports? Take time to do what you love and see what the areas are you can excel in. This will help you to appreciate yourself and what you can be as a person.
Accept Compliments
When we feel bad about ourselves or doubting what we can do, we tend to resist the good comments that are coming your way. As someone who try to build their self-confidence, what you should try to practicing is accepting the compliments you get. Train yourself to use simple responses such as “thank you” whenever you get a compliment. This will help you to avoid rejecting a compliment as a reflex. At first you might find it difficult to get used to but with a little practice you will learn to accept the praise.
Use Positive Affirmations Correctly
There are a lot of positive affirmations that we see and hear every day. But sometimes something like “I am going to be the best” can make us feel even worse about ourselves. This is because when you are feeling down, these affirmations state exactly the opposite to what you are feeling. For positive affirmations to work on you, change them a little when you are thinking of them or using those phrases on yourself. For example, instead of saying “I am gonna be the best” try something like “I will continue until I succeed”.
Stop Self-Criticism
None of us are perfect. But whenever you don’t feel like you are at your best, doubting yourself and criticising yourself is not the answer to build good confidence. Instead, whenever you feel like you are starting to criticise yourself, think instead of what you would say to someone else when they are feeling bad about something and use those words on yourself. You goal should be to improve your confidence and your self-esteem and therefore start practicing using self-compliments on you instead of being too harsh on yourself.
Improving self-esteem will not be easy all the time. You might struggle to see your self-worth or find it difficult to practice self-compliments or accept compliments. However, give yourself a little time to get used to being comfortable in your own skin. Confidence does not build overnight so remember to be patient with yourself.
