When it comes to the building up one’s self esteem, one important aspect is to consistently get involved in self esteem activities. Doing so can make a massive difference over the long term.
Even for individuals with high self esteem and confidence, it is always a good idea to adopt such habits. The challenges and difficulties that we face everyday makes this very important.
For a person suffering from severe self esteem issues, his or her confidence and self acceptance needs to be built up bit by bit. It is very unlikely for a person’s self esteem to go through massive transformations overnight.
However, through developing the habit of consistently being involved in self esteem activities that can help, it can be done.
Below are some self esteem activities which are very important for everyone
Positive self talk and affirmations
Healthy self esteem has its roots in positive self talk. It is an indication of a person’s relationship with himself (or herself).
What are the words that you say to yourself? Is it more often in a positive or negative tone? Do you focus on the problems or the solutions? Do you emphasize the mistakes or the lessons learned?
Read Also: Discover why Affirmations Work
It all boils down to this – do you ask yourself empowering questions?
Instead of asking why am I so stupid, ask how can I get better. Instead of asking the reasons why I can’t do it, ask how I can do it.
In addition to that, get into the habit of periodically saying positive, encouraging affirmations to encourage yourself. The impact from this practice can be massive.
Read Also: Practising self affirmations
Adopting a positive and empowering self dialogue is just a matter of habit, but the effect from it can significantly improve your self esteem.
Positive references
Nothing builds self esteem more than a person’s past successes and achievements.
It is the living proof of one’s capabilities, knowledge and potential. The fact that something has been achieved before is proof that it can be achieved again in the future.
Unfortunately, we don’t always remember our past successes. Or more specifically, we don’t remember it frequent enough. Somehow we have a tendency to always remind ourselves of our failures, but we forget about our successes.
Knowing the fact that you have achieved or have gone through similar challenges in the past will give you confidence and certainty of future success.
So what can really help you build self esteem is to come up with a list of powerful positive references. Remember your past successes, achievements and the challenges that you were able to overcome, and then list them down together with some brief details of it.
Read Also: Goal Setting, your road map to Success
By having this list, whenever you feel doubtful or discouraged you can go through the list and be reminded of your capabilities.
More often than not we don’t give ourselves enough credit – having this list of positive references will ensure that we will be reminded of our talents and thus keep our self esteem at a high level.
Despite possibly being the most impactful of all the self esteem activities listed here, it is also the least commonly used one. So don’t be like most out there and remember about your past successes!
Fitness and exercise
Nothing shows self love more than the act of consistently taking good care of your body.
A person who takes care of his body is a person who respects and loves himself. When you are putting in the time and effort to take care of yourself, that is an act of self love. And that will naturally build up your self esteem as well.
Developing the habit of exercising regularly is one of the best things you can do for yourself. It not only helps you physically, but emotionally and mentally as well.
If you are a person who is not used to exercising, don’t be too worried about developing this habit. Ultimately it is all about momentum. Once you develop the momentum of exercising regularly it will be easy to maintain a consistent exercise routine.
Start out slow and plan to work out just once or twice a week. Take the workouts very seriously and really go for it – don’t do it half-heartedly.
Related: How to Get Motivated to Exercise 5 Types of Exercises for Busy People
During the first week it will be tough as hell as you are still getting used to it. But after a couple of weeks of getting into the routine, you can’t help but want to exercise.By the end of it, you will crave for exercise.
Meditation
The practice of meditation calms the mind and body. When you meditate regularly, you strip off all the extra emotional baggage that you are carrying around and you start to see with clarity.
When that happens you start to let go of the false conditions that are dictated by society which has made you feel inadequate or not good enough.
You realize that those are just illusions and there is no reason why you should have low self esteem.
You become aware of how unique and talented and capable you are, and that you are a complete human being.
This change will not happen overnight but the continued practice of meditation will gradually build up one’s self esteem.
Community and the people around us
One aspect that many people constantly forget about is the need for support from others.
Having support from the people around us, our family, friends and community is very important for building self esteem.
We often think aspects such as these aren’t self esteem activities, but it is in fact one of the most vital.
It is very important to surround yourself with family and friends who are supportive and loving. A small group that is always there to help, support, encourage and comfort you no matter what.
Facing a difficult challenge alone can be very daunting and overwhelming. However when you know you have the love and support of your family and friends, it gives you strength to keep going.
No doubt that sometimes it is hard to find such people in our lives. And it isn’t always within our control. However, it is not nearly as difficult as you think it is.
Most people are willing to help and support others. As long as you don’t go overboard and overwhelm others with your needs and demand lots of attention, most people will help, even people you are not that close with.
All you need to do is ask. Ask for support and help from others. The majority of people are more than happy to help. It is in our human nature to do what we can to help another as long as it doesn’t hurt ourselves.
Often times we are the ones that is holding ourselves back from asking for help. The ego gets in the way and wants to be strong. We don’t need to always put up a strong front.
A truly strong person will not be afraid to show his or her vulnerable side.
Most importantly, we must all understand that no one can live alone. No one can be self sufficient. Everybody must rely on one another.
Final thoughts…
Those are the five self esteem activities that can help anyone no matter what their current level of confidence is. Adopting these activities on a daily basis will guarantee an improvement in this area of one’s life.
No matter how low your self esteem is right now, with the continued effort in these five self esteem activities, nothing can stop you from building up your self esteem to the level you desire.
