How to Know you Have Low Self-esteem: Low self-esteem is the absence of high regard for oneself. You might experience shyness or anxiety around other people, believe that you are incompetent, or harshly judge yourself if you have poor self-esteem. While some persons with poor self-esteem are aware that they judge themselves too harshly, others cling to their unfavorable opinions so tenaciously that they can appear to be true.
Many people struggle with low self-esteem, and it can increase their risk of developing other mental health issues. Thankfully, there are effective psychological strategies for raising your self-esteem. But how can one know that they have low self-esteem? Let’s look in detail at the signs of low self-esteem.
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What is Low Self Esteem?
Your perception of yourself is a measure of your self-esteem. When your self-esteem is strong, you are more likely to have optimistic thoughts about both your own life and the world around you. People who have a healthy sense of self-esteem are aware of their worth. When you don’t feel good about yourself, you’re more likely to have a pessimistic outlook on life. You can feel tense, depressed, down, or uninspired. You could question your ability to overcome difficulties as they arise.
Your self-esteem has an impact on your way of living. If you don’t like who you are, you might always strive to please other people. There will surely be occasions when you are unable to meet these needs, which might cause you to feel concerned and sad. As long as you continue to do so, you may feel Acceptable.
There is a degree of self-esteem. Some people who struggle with low self-esteem discover that it only affects them occasionally or when they are with particular people. People start to see how much their sense of self affects everything they do.
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Top 10 Signs of Low Self-Esteem
1. Negative Social Comparison: Social comparison can occasionally be beneficial and improve a person’s feeling of self. However, it can also harm your self-esteem to compare yourself to others. social comparison, or comparing oneself to those one believes to be better than oneself, is something a person with poor self-esteem may be more likely to do.
Positive social comparison isn’t always a bad thing. These comparisons, for instance, can serve as a source of knowledge and motivation for development. But when people experience inadequacy or hopelessness, it can undermine their self-esteem. Such comparisons may be facilitated by social media, which lowers one’s self-esteem. If you frequently criticize yourself in comparison to others on social media. Your sense of self-worth can decrease.
2. Negative Self Talk: People with low self-esteem tend to concentrate more on their weaknesses than their strengths. They constantly appear to have something terrible to say about themselves and engage in negative self-talk rather than uplifting themselves. People with poor self-esteem frequently place the blame for mistakes on themselves. Whether it be their appearance, their demeanor, or their skills, they find something wrong with themselves.
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3. Difficulty making your own choices: Feeling indecisive or unable to make decisions on your own can occur when you lack confidence or have low self-esteem.
Allowing others to make decisions is considerably simpler, but do they always know what you want or need? Do you struggle to stick to your decisions when you do make them? Are you concerned about what other people may think of you? These are symptoms of poor self-esteem and a lack of confidence in your ability to make wise judgments.
4. Worry and self-doubt: People with poor self-worth frequently worry that they made the wrong decision even after making it. Instead of standing by their decisions, they may mistrust their judgment and give in to peer pressure.
This can cause a lot of self-doubt and second-guessing. People with poor self-esteem find it more difficult to make decisions about their lives as a result.
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5. Low confidence: Low self-esteem and low self-confidence usually go hand in hand. Lack of confidence can contribute to or exacerbate low self-esteem, but vice versa is also true. Low self-esteem can contribute to or worsen low confidence.
You can depend on yourself to handle a variety of scenarios if you have confidence in both yourself and your ability. This self-confidence allows you to feel at ease and certain when dealing with a wide range of situations in life, which may be quite beneficial for your general well-being. Developing your self-confidence and self-awareness might be beneficial. One strategy you may use is learning new skills.
6. Lack of control: Low self-esteem individuals often believe they have little control over their lives or their fate. This may be brought on by the belief that they are unable to alter the course of the world or themselves. They feel helpless to take any action to solve their problems since they have an external locus of control.
One’s mental health may be improved by having a better sense of one’s value since it may help to mitigate some of the negative impacts of situations over which one has little control. It will be beneficial for you to seek techniques to boost your self-esteem if you feel that you have little influence over your life or circumstances.
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7. Problems asking for what you need: Low self-esteem might make it difficult for someone to ask for what they need. Feeling humiliated can make it difficult to ask for what you need. You might also think that asking for help and support is a sign of incompetence.
Someone who has poor self-esteem may also believe they are unworthy of assistance because of their low regard for themselves. They struggle to establish themselves when they are in need since they don’t put their own needs first.
8. Trying to please others: Another typical sign of poor self-esteem is people-pleasing. Individuals who do not feel good about themselves could go above and beyond to make others satisfied and convenient to receive approval from others.
It’s common for people to put other people’s needs before their own. Low self-esteem leads to a person saying yes to activities they may not want to do and feeling terrible for declining.
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9. Fear of failure: People with low self-esteem doubt their capacity to succeed because they lack confidence in their abilities. They sometimes shy away from problems or give up easily without giving it their all because they are afraid of failing.
Behaviors like acting out when things go wrong or trying to find ways to cover up feelings of inadequacy are examples of how this fear of failure manifests itself. In addition to making excuses, blaming outside forces, or attempting to minimize the importance of the task, people with poor self-esteem may do such.
10. Lack of Boundaries: Boundary-setting skills are frequently developed early in life. Children who have parents who respect and value them are better equipped to establish healthy boundaries in adult relationships.
Setting boundaries with others might be challenging for people who have poor self-esteem. If they try to create or uphold a boundary, they could feel terrible about it or worry that people won’t like them anymore. When people disrespect a person’s time and space, a lack of appropriate boundaries can lead to issues. The person may feel less valued as a result of the lack of respect, which not only increases their stress levels.
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Conclusion
You may have poor self-esteem if you recognize any of these traits. We all experience similar feelings occasionally, but if it is a daily battle for you, look for support. Learn how to increase your confidence and self-esteem. Just make a decision, then do it. Decide to love and be more self-assured in yourself.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.