Improving Self-Esteem for a Happier Life

For this blog we have asked Andrea Smith her advice on improving confidence and self esteem. Andrea is an expert in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Clinical Hypnotherapy.

You can find her website with more great articles and videos HERE

What is Self Esteem?

When we talk about self esteem, we are describing the opinion that we have of ourselves and our confidence with who we are. It can be applied to the way we think about ourselves, the way we behave, the type of character we have, the confidence in our abilities and our expectations of the future.

When we have healthy self esteem, we can can feel good about who are. It helps us to have a positive outlook on life and improves self belief, courage, determination and inner strength. This can help us deal with the ups and downs in our lives and deal with negative situations as well as protecting our long term health.

When we have low self esteem, it can affect us in a number of negative ways. If people lack self worth it will reflect in the way they behave – self depreciating behaviour, telling themselves and others that they’re not good enough is negative reinforcement of their low self esteem.

Even people who appear self-confident with high self-esteem may actually be struggling with negative thoughts. People may also be overly critical and analytical of their behaviour, finding faults in everything they do and focussing on negative aspects of their lives rather than positive.

This low self esteem can lead to feelings of depression, lack of motivation, and hopelessness. Thankfully, there are practical steps we can take to improve self confidence and self esteem

Here are Andrea’s 10 Tips To Help Tackle Low Self Esteem:

  1. Positive affirmations and self-talk: Practice motivational, positive affirmations and challenge any negative thoughts you have.
  2. Regular and consistent exercise: Regular exercise can really help with mood and self image. Making it a part of your routine reinforces healthy habits
  3. Stop Measuring Yourself Against Others: Trust in yourself. Find your own strengths
  4. Don’t be so hard on yourself: We are all human – everyone makes mistakes
  5. Forget the things you can’t change: Focus on the postive and change the things that you can
  6. Focus on the things you enjoy most: Make time to do your favourite hobby, play your favourite sport, play an instrument – whatever makes you happy
  7. Toast your achievements: Be happy for the things you have achieved
  8. Find the right balance: Your work is important, but make sure you don’t neglect your home and personal life.
  9. Give yourself a break: Being critical of yourself all the time is going to make you unhappy
  10. Don’t be a stranger: Talk to your family and friends if you need support.

If you need some help with long term low self esteem, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Clinical Hypnotherapy could help you.

If you would like to discuss in more detail, and in confidence, you can email Andrea on info@hypnotherapyinsurrey.com or call 0796 715 1790

http://hypnotherapyinsurrey.com/