It’s common for everyone to experience a lack of confidence or find it difficult to have the confidence to express themselves at some point in their lives. However, if negative thoughts and insecurities frequently prevent you from pursuing new opportunities and experiences, it can have a detrimental impact on your personal and professional relationships. Low self-esteem can hold you back from becoming the best version of yourself.
Common signs of low self-esteem include:
- Pleasing others to gain approval
- Frequently questioning your abilities
- Overcompensating to prove your worth
- Feeling unheard, dismissed or “not enough”
- Struggling to speak up for yourself
- Nervousness about how others might react to your perspectives
- Believing you’re inadequate, unlovable or incompetent
- Harsh self-criticism and negative self-talk
- Worrying excessively about judgment, criticism, failure or embarrassment
- People pleasing at the expense of your own needs
- Substance use and addiction
The truth is you deserve to love yourself, believe in yourself, and stand up for yourself. You have a right to your voice, your choices, and to say no. With practice and persistence, you can cultivate confidence by setting healthy boundaries, becoming more assertive, embracing self-compassion, abandoning self-sabotaging habits, and accepting yourself unconditionally.