Theresa Francis-Cheung

Improving your self-esteem isn’t about becoming selfish, loud, competitive and arrogant. It’s about taking care of yourself so that you have the strength and energy to help and give to others when appropriate.

Whatever the cause, when self-esteem is low, the world you live in is a frightening and unpredictable one because you are always dependent on the whims of others or the turn of events. If you can compare your life to a car, when self-esteem is low you are not in the driving seat. Other people or events are steering the wheel, while you crouch in the back wondering where they will take you next. That’s exactly what low self-esteem does to your life. You are alive, but you aren’t really living.

Self-esteem without self-acceptance sets you up for disappointments, stress and unhappiness when misfortune arises and self-esteem is attacked. You need to learn to accept yourself, warts and all. One advantage of this is that it becomes easier to accept others and their fallibilities.