Do You Really Have Low Self-esteem? Signs, Symptoms & Causes

"Self-trust is the first secret of success."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson was so right. Regardless of how you define “success”, you have to agree that trusting and being confident in yourself is the first step towards achievement of any kind. Both of these things help you make and be comfortable with decisions no matter their size. Most importantly, it’s how you empower yourself to live your life.

Right now, you might be asking yourself what a person with low self-esteem looks like. Someone with low self-esteem can look like anyone. It’s what’s going on inside the person that makes them different from someone with average or high self-esteem.

It may come as no surprise that many self-esteem issues have their roots in childhood. These are the formative years for any person. What occurs during this time can effect a person’s assessment of themselves and the world around them for the rest of his life. Child abuse, parental neglect, parenting style and even genetics can lead to low self-esteem. But negativity in adulthood, including abuse, troublesome relationships, difficulty setting goals and the fear of failure can all contribute to low self-esteem, too. With all these different factors, it’s no wonder that the majority of people have or has had internal struggles with self-esteem issues and many are seeking help to overcome them.

But low self-esteem just doesn’t affect a person’s internal workings. Some research has proven that it can also have dangerous external consequences. Low self-esteem has been linked to delinquency, substance abuse, eating disorders, alcoholism, unwanted pregnancy, depression, violence, racism and underachievement. It can invite victimization and even make a person suicidal. Scary, huh?

However, for most people, low self-esteem manifests itself in shyness, trouble with decision-making, coping problems, an inability to enjoy achievements and activities and a distorted view of the self. Sufferers are held back by an incorrect view of themselves. How many of you battle insecurity and feelings of worthlessness? They’re all too common. The good news is that these feelings don’t have to be permanent, no matter how long you’ve been experiencing them.

I’m here to give you the tools to change yourself so that you don’t end up at the worst end of low self-esteem. If everything works out as planned, you won’t experience any self-esteem problems anymore. My goal is to aid you in reforming the foundation of yourself. We’re going to build our way to a healthy self-concept from the ground up using my lessons. To start, I’ll give you some practical advice on how to begin our project.

My next article is designed to do just that. Tune in for the next installment.

Let me know what do you think? Add your comment below…