Early March is a pretty tough time for me. It's the anniversary of my accident and always leaves me reflecting on the mistakes that led me to that point. Today, I'd like to share the value I found in forgiving the past to take control of my present.

I've been working through ways to build better self-esteem. I've laid out how long of a journey it can be. Like any long journey, the feeling of being stuck will pop up now and then. I've started to feel stuck over the last couple of weeks. Today, I'll talk about managing that feeling and getting back on track by resetting your perspective.

The journey to better self-esteem is a lengthy but empowering process. In my experience, understanding my own identity was a great kick-starter for that process. I will continue to work through how that helped me. Today, I'll cover the second step: sharing your identity with others.

So, we're on a journey to build better self-esteem, and you want to know where to begin. Starting out may seem like a daunting task. The best way to tackle it is by breaking it down into smaller steps. Today, we'll cover step one: identifying what makes you, you.

My name is Will Redmond, and I’m a new author for HealthyPlace’s “Building Self-Esteem.” I’m so excited to open a dialogue about the ongoing mental health crisis and foster growth with you all. Low self-esteem is a challenging issue to tackle, but together we’ll work through steps to build a strong self-image and a positive outlook on life.

This will be my last post for "Building Self-Esteem," and I want to leave you with three truths about self-esteem. It's been a little over a year since my introduction post, and what a year it's been. In addition to working through my self-esteem issues and sharing my stories, these posts have become a journal of my pandemic experience.

Someone commented on a recent blog post about asking for help with low self-esteem and said they could not find support from their friends and family. So today, I will share three resources that helped support me in times when my self-esteem was low.

Poor self-esteem can make it difficult to ask for help. You may feel that you are not worthy of other people's time and assistance. Maybe it's because you are not in the habit of prioritizing yourself and keep pushing your needs aside. Whatever the reason behind the difficulty, everyone needs help sometimes, and practicing how to ask for help is a good exercise to build self-esteem.

Every day is different, and you can build self-esteem by doing a daily check-in to think about how you can set yourself up for success. Last month I was a guest on a Facebook Live hosted by HealthyPlace, and I mentioned this practice. It got some people interested, so I thought I would share how I go about doing it. This check-in will only take you a few minutes in the morning. If you're like me, you will find it a valuable addition to your day and a sure-fire way to build self-esteem.

In my last blog post, I spoke about how changing the viewpoint I took on my life, and my accomplishments helped to build my self-esteem. Taking a long-term view of my progress over a 10-year period showed that my trend, like that of the stock market, was upwards and to be celebrated. There's another example of changing my viewpoint that helped my self-esteem get stronger that I will share today.