Whilst Self-Esteem is not a mental health problem, both self-esteem and mental health are closely linked together.
This is something that can heavily impact our day-to-day lives in several different ways and can affect how you…
- Make decisions and assert yourself. For example, if you are struggling with your self-esteem you may not feel confident in making decisions and as such may rely on others to make those decisions for you.
- Move past mistakes without unfairly blaming yourself. For example, perhaps a friendship will go wrong for whatever reason, and you may struggle, thinking that the blame falls entirely on yourself.
- Believe that you don’t deserve happiness or even sometimes that you don’t deserve help. When it comes to mental health it can sometimes be the case that people don’t seek support due to feeling as if other people deserve it more.
- Recognise your strengths and achievements. You may find it hard to see how good you are at certain things, and struggle to accept the great things you have done because you are comparing them/yourself to others.
- You may struggle to find yourself wanting to try new things out of fear of not being very good, or avoiding doing things where other people may be involved.
Often signs of low self-esteem can also be signs of a mental health problem, especially when they are lasting for long periods or affect your daily life! This is why finding ways to boost our self-esteem and celebrating our achievements is so important!
February 2024, is International Self-esteem Month and is a dedicated time to try and help us believe and appreciate ourselves more.
How can you get involved?
Here are several things that you can try and do this month to try and provide a boost to your mental health!
1)Look back at your past achievements! These could be anything, no matter how big or small they might seem! For example, you may have done well in a University assignment, got a new job, learnt to cook a meal or even made healthier lifestyle changes such as going to bed at an earlier time!
2) Accepting and giving compliments! It can be normal to sometimes not know how to respond after being given a compliment, which may be because you struggle to believe what is being said. However, instead, try to look at this as someone recognising you and the amazing things you’ve done. You can also boost the self-esteem of the people around you by giving compliments back!
3) If you often struggle with thinking that you are bad at things, why not put in the time to develop those skills so instead you build up confidence? Maybe you have bad self-esteem with something like cooking, so you could set aside some time each week to try and learn a new recipe. Whilst it may seem like a slow process, you will develop these skills each week and over time build up new confidence.
4) Try not to compare yourself to others. It is completely normal to sometimes look at what someone else may be doing and then feel down because you may feel like they are so much further ahead of you in life. This, however, can negatively affect our mental health and self-esteem so instead try to focus on the things that you have and find pride in yourself! If you are noticing this happening more when you are browsing social media, it could be a good idea to take breaks perhaps.
Those are just a few quick ideas that you could do this month, and even hopefully take forward with you throughout the year! Let’s make 2024 a great year of recognising our strengths and achievements, you are amazing!
If you are struggling with your mental health and need support, please reach out to us today and we will help you! ❤️ https://www.burtonmind.co.uk/contact-us or call us on 01283 566696
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