3 Ways To Repair Your Self Esteem

-- It slams into you like a kick in the head. You're browsing through some snapshots, you see a shot of some old lady's hands, then suddenly -- wham! --you realize those hands are yours.
When walloped -- how to repair self-esteem

You dash jauntily up a staircase only to stop halfway, breathing in asthmatic-bulldog gasps. Wham!

Overnight, like Germany invading Poland, your girlish waist expands into menopause tummy. Wham! And that's if you're lucky. Carol wasn't: She got sick, had to take steroids, and gained 50 pounds in a month. Teri finally learned to love her breasts, only to lose one to cancer. Samantha developed alopecia, shedding every hair on her body, and is now waiting for it to return. Wham! Wham! Wham!

These wallops to self-esteem involve not only the nasty shock of seeing our physical flaws but -- much worse -- the growing awareness that our bodies are mutable and mortal. I get walloped in the self-esteem approximately every 15 minutes, so lately I've been looking for coping skills.

I've found many, some of which work and some of which don't. The ones that don't work seem absolutely logical. The ones that do sound weird. I'll discuss the "logical" methods first, hoping to pitch you into sufficient despair to try the "illogical" ones.

Keep reading...

Comments

[EliDavidson]

Here are just a few things I teach my clients in my coaching class:
The moment you decide to take dominion over what happens to you internally (regardless of the gunk and funk that can go on during a day) you step into your rightful place.

The instant you take charge, you step up to the podium of your self-esteem and personal power. Hey, when I say personal power, I'm not talking about strutting through your life like a bad reality TV show diva. I'm talking about simply claiming the capacity that is already yours.

For more of these fabulous tips, go to http://elidavidson.com/

[maizie]

You are confused. You are mistaking vanity for self-esteem. Self-esteem is your perception of your worth as a person. Being fat, having sagging breasts or being out of shape are all physical conditions. Self-esteem is emotional. Might help to be have a grasp on your subject matter before pontificating.

[DixieMelody]

Ouch!

[AtTheMoon]

have you read martha beck's expecting adam? she's mentally ill. seriously.

[JennyJay]

I was thoroughly open to all that mumbo-jumbo when I was about 28 years old. That was a long
time ago. Now I am viewing life from a simple, but honest perspective - life is tough - the losses are great. . . . but now what matters, is each hour, and each day.. . . If I do today as best I can, then
my tomorrows will be as good as I can make them.

[PatA]

TheKiddy, I am totally with you. The "feel good" theory only goes so far with survivors.

[TheKiddy]

Hmmm. As somebody who had a stroke and got fired the day after getting out of the hospital and then got a diagnosis of cancer and I won't even talk about the complications after the cancer surgery I found this article really stupid.

[wagadog]

Wow. Hang in there. And I thought I had a bad stretch -- and it was almost that bad except the health problems are my parents' not mine.

At first I thought the article was really stupid because the 'esteem problems' it focussed on had entirely to do with body image (who cares) rather than wallops to self esteem dealt by the complete lack of control we have over really serious damage to our wealth, health and ongoing survivability.

But then the mental exercises offered look like they could useful in getting a less black perspective on even hopeless situations.

Hang in there, Kid.

[Jessegirl]

Just reading the 3 lines about you made this whole "wallop stuff" worth it for me. You should write an article...I'm serious. I'm really intrigued by you....wow...you've left me breathless here!