What is Self Esteem?
We all know that self-esteem sometimes referred to as self-worth or self-respect, can be an important part of success. Too little self-esteem can leave people feeling defeated or depressed. At the heart of low self-esteem lie negative beliefs about ourselves.
How does experience lead to low self-esteem? Beliefs about ourselves (and indeed about other people and about life) are all learned. They have their roots in experience. Your beliefs about yourself can be seen as conclusions you have come to on the basis of what has happened to you. This means that, however unhelpful or outdated they may now be, they are nonetheless understandable – there was a time when they made perfect sense, given what was going on for you.
Your view of your self – your self esteem is a learned opinion, not a fact. Opinions can be mistaken, biased and inaccurate, or indeed just plain wrong.
How I help clients
I have worked with a number of male and female clients who have struggled with their self esteem which has impacted their progress in life either personally or professionally. They feel like a weight has been lifted because they can really understand how their low self esteem came to be and talk about their experiences.
Here are some examples of changes I have seen in my practice when clients have come to me to help them with their self esteem and confidence. Clients have:
- Gained confidence and self belief in their abilities that it enabled them to apply (and get) a promotion at work
- Developed meaningful friendships and relationships
- A greater understanding of being an introvert and how they can use this as a super power rather.
- Developed self-acceptance and self-care to improve their health and wellbeing.
- Felt confident and able to assert themselves at work
- Overcome their fears of presenting in front of an audience
- Rebuild their confidence after a particularly unpleasant bullying experience in their workplace.
- Overcome imposter syndrome.
self esteem, confidence, counselling in milton keynes, counsellor near me, counselling in bletchley, counselling in stony stratford.