Self-Esteem & Self Awareness
Self-esteem is something that we must grow over time. We must treat our self-esteem like a plant that we are trying to encourage to grow. We must ensure that the plant has enough sunlight, and water. That it is not too hot and is not too cold and is in the ideal conditions to grow. We must do the same thing with ourselves when it comes to our self-esteem. If the plant is our self-esteem then our thoughts about ourselves is the sunlight. The words that we use to describe ourselves is the water. The support that we have from other people or the negativity that we get from the outside can either make it too hot or too cold. Keep the image in your head about trying to grow the plant. Always remember plants are delicate and you have to make sure that you're paying attention to it otherwise if your plant is forgotten it's not going to grow and might become neglected.
Typically if we are honest with ourselves our inner self-talk is negative and unhelpful.
We say things like “I’m not good enough.” “I don't look good in that dress,” I’m not smart enough,” “I'm stupid,” “I'm ugly,” “I am not loveable.” These are all thoughts, feelings, or statements toward yourself that aren’t going to make the plant grow. You have to make a choice to try and take those negative thoughts, feelings, and statements and reframe them to be something that's true and positive, that will help and encourage us to grow. Challenging yourself to change how you think and talk to yourself can be difficult. You can trying using self-talk statements that are positive and that you truly believe about yourself. For example, “I am funny,” “I am confident,” “I’m kind,” or “I’m creative.” Your brain will believe what you tell it you have to ensure that you're saying good things about yourself because you will believe them. If you say negative things you'll feel negative about yourself and that's negative self-esteem. If you say positive things about yourself you'll feel more positive and that's positive self-esteem. The important thing to remember is no one's born with good self-esteem you have to grow it. You have to tend to it sometimes even daily to make sure that your plan to still growing that you're doing okay.