Women's Health:

Improving Your Self-EsteemEveryday many women wrestle with low self-esteem. Here are some tips on improving your self-image.
Millions of women, from pre-teen years to post-menopause, wrestle daily with low self-esteem. Are you one of those women? Do you know a woman who has a low self-esteem? Struggling with a poor image of yourself can cause depression, eating disorders, and mediocre or subpar performance in school or work. Not realizing your potential and your value as a human being can take a toll on your health and your quality of life. It can also adversely affect your relationships. What causes a low self-esteem? There are a variety of reasons why women in particular struggle with self-worth and body image. Among those reasons are the media, lack of nurture during childhood, peer ridicule, sexual/physical/verbal abuse, and rejection. Some women have a drop in self-esteem due to physical changes in appearance as a result of getting older, gaining weight, or having children. Have you dealt with these issues? On many occasions, it is in the mind alone. Fears and self-doubt can plague a person's mind until there is nothing left of their self-esteem. Regardless of how valuable others may find them, they are unable to see their worth and are constantly putting themselves under examination and comparing themselves to others. Negative thoughts are all that they focus on an all they believe. Does that sound like you? How to improve your self-esteem: First and foremost, I want to tell you that you are not alone in what you feel. I have struggled with my body image and other things about myself, and I did have a low self-esteem for a time. I overcame that, and I want to help you improve your self-image as well. Here's how: Give your appearance time and attention. You are important and valuable enough to spend the time on your hair, make-up, and skin. Eat properly, exercise, and focus on looking put together, looking polished, and looking like you put an effort into how you look. Give your inner-self time and attention. Pray, learn new things, give yourself mental breaks, and feed your mind with positive things. The things that you read, watch, listen to and say all have an effect on you. Don't play music that reinforces the bad feelings that you have, play music that reflects the way that you want to feel. Nurture your inner being, and it will create an outer glow in your physical appearance that people will notice. It's called confidence. Focus on being the best "you" and not "like her." If you find yourself saying, "I want to be like her," cut it out. You can never be her, you can only be you, so stop trying. There may be some similarities between her positive qualities and yours, but your goal really shouldn't be to become someone else. You were meant to be a better version of "you." As a part of making an effort to be yourself, stop making comparisons between yourself and other women. Just don't do it. Get away from negativity and drama. If your friends, family, or coworkers bring you down, take a step back. Spend less time around them, stop playing what they say over and over again in your mind, and rid yourself of the poison. You are too special to sit around and take it when someone is putting you down and confirming your reasons for self-doubt. Get away as fast as you can. Make a list of your favorite attributes. Think of at least one physical characteristic and one personality trait that you like about yourself. If you can think of more, that is great. Write it down or type it up. If there are things that you don't like about yourself, make an effort to change it if you can. If you don't like something about yourself simply because of what others think, or if it is something that you can't change, let it go. You are more than likely just fine the way you are. Make a list of things that you are good at. Write it down (or type it up) and do those things more often, or even perfect those skills. The more you do things that you do well, the better you will feel about your abilities. Also, don't be afraid to learn how to do new things, because you may find something else that you can be really good at. Ultimately, the key to improving your self-esteem is to believe in yourself. If you want to be more attractive, own your beauty and act confident. You are more beautiful than you think you are, and you can accomplish more than you dream about. Shun the fears and doubts that hold you back, and choose to believe that you are a valuable individual. I know that you can do it, you just have to realize it for yourself.