SELF-LOVE

Nobody is going to give you high self-esteem and appropriate self-esteem. As long as you are dependent on others to give them either self-esteem or a robust self-image, they are looking at the wrong place. The right place starts with oneself. You start believing in yourself and asserting that you’re as good as anyone else and that you are as deserving as anybody. So, start with a good self-image and don’t hesitate in appropriate self-assertion. Self-assertion is different from aggression on one hand and self-depreciation on the other hand. It is neither being arrogant nor being unduly humble. Once you start reasonably asserting yourself, you will notice that reasonable people gravitate towards you, you don’t need them. To succeed in life, you don’t have to worry to interpret the confidence of everybody. If the majority of the people are with you, you are a winner. You don’t have to win the approval of everybody. Many people aren’t happy with themselves, how would you expect them to be happy with you? Interaction in human life is not entirely about you. It is also much above the other person as it is to you. GET IT STRAIGHT. Some people are toxic, they can never be pleased. Don’t waste your time on them. Don’t pick the wrong challenges or to win every battle you’ll ever fight. Even if you win a fraction of them, you’re a champion. But, most people are perfectionists in a colossally imperfect world and that perfection is a recipe for misery. Don’t aim for perfection, it is good to be good enough. The paradigm will liberate you from unnecessary worries, undue pressure and unreasonable expectations.
Apart from cultivating good enough expectations, always try to have some sense of humor. Those who are masters of any field are always playful. Only struggling or insecure people lack a sense of humor. Don’t hesitate to laugh at your follies or limitations. Laughing at your own mistakes is a sign of strength and robustness. “Life is a glorious adventure offering new challenges and new possibilities at every step.”
So, let’s face the challenges and avail opportunities of life with sound self-esteem and a good sense of humor.
Neither good self-esteem or a sense of humor occurs in a vacuum. There is always a context of real opportunities and challenges in life. Confidence comes out of real competence and real competence develops when you confront the challenge of life in a successful manner. So start picking up small challenges in your environment and overcome them, bit by bit. If you don’t succeed in the first attempt, don’t get discouraged. Learn the lesson and try again until you succeed. Create a track record of success. If possible, write your victories and achievements in a diary. Refer to it whenever you feel low, it will encourage you to grow, step by step. In the long term, it will build you some sense of self-worth and you would be able to take on bigger challenges. As a famous philosopher, Aristotle quoted, “We are what we habitually do. Thus, excellence is not an isolated act, but a habit.”