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Relationships and Building Self Esteem

You can avoid the self-esteem traps that create unrealistic self-importance instead of healthy self-esteem. You should continue to build yourself up despite possible self-esteem traps because living with low self-esteem has many negative consequences as well. Low self-esteem can make you unwilling and unmotivated to achieve what you are capable of, averse to relationships that you deserve, and it can make you vulnerable to depression.1 In order to protect yourself, it is, therefore, vital to build your self-esteem. However, there are ways that build self-esteem that can end up fostering other negative outcomes in your life, or self-esteem traps. If you want to maximize your wellbeing and have more positive interactions with people, then it pays to be mindful of the self-esteem traps of narcissism, jealousy and resentment.
Rebuilding your self-esteem after a breakup can be tough, as anyone who has gone through a rough breakup knows. During this difficult time, we can end up convincing ourselves that we are the only ones who have done wrong, focusing on – and exaggerating out of proportion – our negative actions and weaknesses. A breakup can lead us to believe that we are without value if our self-worth was tied to the relationship. In order to avoid this distorted perspective, it’s important to take a reality check and learn how to build self-esteem after a breakup.
If you don't show yourself respect, neither will other people. How are you supposed to feel confident, assertive and develop self-esteem if you don't show yourself some respect? Others may take advantage of you, people can be intimidating or situations you encounter may be so overwhelming it makes it hard to respect yourself. I've got three simple tools that can help you feel more confident communicating with others so you can show yourself respect.
Your behavior can make you look insecure to others, but you don't need to look insecure. Without knowing it, you may act in a way that shows others you struggle with confidence. However, we've all done it and instead of beating yourself up, learn how to change these behaviors so that you can appear confident and not look insecure.
Emotional manipulation in a friendship is toxic to your self-esteem and confidence. The worst part is that the victims are generally people who are already struggling with loving themselves or co-dependency and who often lack self-confidence. This makes it hard to recover and to protect yourself from the effects of emotional abuse. The more you know about emotional manipulation, the easier it will be to protect yourself from emotional manipulation in your friendships.
Negative people are everywhere and negative people can harm your confidence dramatically. If we aren't careful, their negativity can rub off on us leading to self-esteem issues, unhappiness and lower self-confidence. We can't avoid all the negative people and energy that come into our lives but we can take measures to stay aware and positive. Don't let those negative people harm your confidence.
Holiday season isolation can be destructive to your self-esteem; however, you can learn to deal with the pain of holiday season isolation. Perhaps you don’t have real friends or family, you have a toxic family, loved ones are far away or friends are too busy with their own families. The festive season can also be a trigger for mental health issues including depression, anxiety, disordered eating, bipolar disorder, addictions and grief. If you're experiencing a mental health issue you might not be in the mood to celebrate, and you can feel isolated even if you're surrounded by people. Alternatively, you might not celebrate due to your beliefs. No matter what the reason for your holiday season isolation, it's important to minimise the impact it has on your self-esteem and general wellbeing. 
Everyone needs to learn to respect themselves and stop letting others take advantage of us. Just the other day I noticed that I was about to let someone take advantage of me. It may not have been on purpose, but the gal at the checkout overcharged me for an item. I felt this strong sense of unfairness and asked her nicely to change the price. She apologized and fixed the mistake. This may sound like a simple example, but the truth is, each time you stand up for what's fair, you respect yourself. When you stop allowing others to take advantage of you and respect yourself, your self-esteem improves. 
Do you feel insecure in relationships? This post will help you understand why you feel insecure and 3 ways to feel more confident in romantic relationships.
Is it a toxic relationship? Is she a friend or frenemy? It’s a question that many adults and adolescents ask themselves when thinking about those in their social circle. No, it’s not the movie Mean Girls, and sadly, toxic friendships don't necessarily end when you depart high school. Many times, people put up with these toxic friends because they are tough to let go. But in the end, these toxic friends take a huge toll on your self-esteem.