Review of Self Esteem, Confidence, and Self Image

The mental health challenge that I will discuss in this article is fear of not being accepted by others.  I was reading an interesting article of a young person who expected others not to like her. My concern was that even though it is a natural function of human beings to want to be liked by others our perception of the opinion of others should never bring us to a point of debilitating anxiety and/or depression.

General rule of human psychology is that we are rather self conscious.  It is not necessary to have a society that  pays a lot of attention to wardrobe and an aesthetic view of perfect beauty.  We as a biological organism are rather self conscious.

Another general rule of humanity is that people are hurtful by nature.  We sneer, ridicule, and torture each other.  People like to hurt other people.

Therefore, a person who is self conscious and is exposed to hurtful people may suffer from low Self Esteem, Poor Confidence, and poor Self Image.  Continued exposure to criticism will make a person anxious and depressed.

Parents are a good source of a negative Self Concept.  The voices in our heads repeating to us that we are “ugly”, “stupid”. “will never accomplish anything”, and other attacks on our psyche come from peer group members, siblings, parents, grand parents, aunts and uncles, and other people.

I have come to accept the “seductive whispers” of satan in the formation of human beings.  Satan tells some to hurt others and convinces many they are not quality human beings.

The good news is that it is all in our heads.  We have the power to deal with all negativity.  I encourage people to work out and learn self defense strategies. These practices build self esteem because the individual learns they have nothing to fear because they are trained to defend them selves against any one who may try to harm them.

For years I have been promoting “thinking positively”.  It is not helpful for us to beat our selves up with our inner voice.  We should be building our selves up with our thoughts.

It is helpful to focus on the good in life.  You can think, organize, plan, and act.  These are good things.  You can listen to music you like, read books you like, enjoy the company of your friends and family, look forward to accomplishing your goals, enjoy good food and enjoy other “healthy simple pleasures of life”.

When we improve our attitude we improve our mood. This is why we want to pursue the positive and leave the negative behind.

Being positive also involves being grateful for what we have and enjoying what we have in life.  We definitely have our healthy brain that we can use to put our life in order in a healthy manner.  Those of us in the USA have a rich employment environment where we can work and earn a living. I know your perfect job may not exist.  However, any job that pays is a good job.

We can always allow the media and petty, childish, and immature people to shape our attitude.  We can also decide that we have had enough of negativity and start using our brain to shape a positive healthy attitude.

It is correct that we need people in our lives.  However, we should never allow anyone to make us feel bad about ourselves.  The most important opinion is the opinion we have of our selves.

Yes, there are a lot of hurtful people in society.  I am glad that there opinion of me does not matter.  I concentrate on the spirit I want to have and the life I want to live.

I want to have fun.  I want to enjoy my life.  It is best that I focus on myself. I should not waste my time sneering, ridiculing, and hamming others.

Fun is the operative word.  We should be dancing, singing, laughing, and playing.  For a lot of people having fun means tearing others down.  We should building our selves and others up.

I believe Self Esteem happens when we are confident we can live the life we want to live.  Confidence comes from knowing we have the skills necessary to manage life.  A good Self Concept comes from accepting our selves and dedicating ourselves to living a healthy life.

Bullies are successful because fear makes us weak.  In addition, we interpret other people’s negative opinion of us as we are everything they think we are in life. Again, the most important opinion about us should be our own opinion of our selves.

We should know we are capable of defending ourselves with pepper spray, stun guns, and everything else the law allows.  Moreover, we should know that we are the kind of person who can focus on the good and pursue what is good in life. Even though are crazy people around us, wanting to tear us down, we should concentrate on how we are building our selves up.

This is an after thought.  Our actual physical self contributes to our self image.  We can exercise and eat well.  However, we still may have big ears.  Our reality does not mean we are not good people, worthy of respect and consideration. The respect and consideration that should matter the most should be our self respect and personal consideration.