Self-esteem can sometimes be seen as an umbrella for all the feelings & emotions & beliefs we have about ourselves when it's really a little more granular than that. Knowing the differences & how to build on each one separately gives you the ability for both to work together stronger.
Show Notes:
I wish I had known these things could be seen separately growing up because I probably would have focused on improving only one sooner than later. And I wouldn’t have believed that I needed to feel both good about my body & value and appreciate myself to have some semblance of accepting myself.
And the concept of thinking of these things separately is actually REALLY helpful because it allows you to see how each side can be built-up & worked on, while also seeing which one is naturally higher & easier to lean into. Because as I mentioned before, I never thought of these things as separate, but together and needing to win at both to have any self-acceptance or confidence at all. And I’m sure I’m not alone in that experience.
So let’s jump into talking about body confidence first.
The basic idea of being body confident is that you feel comfortable in the body you have & don’t feel intense pressures to conform to a different body type or have overwhelming shame on what you look like. It’s being comfortable, no matter the shape or size, and believe that your body doesn’t define everything about you.
It’s also about knowing that your body doesn’t have to be a certain size to accomplish goals or be accepted the same as others. There is prejudice with these things, but outside of those people, it doesn’t matter.
Here are some ways you can work on strengthening your body confidence:
- Separate your self-worth from how you feel about how you look.
- Focus on what you are proud of about yourself.
- Cut back on comparing yourself to others.
- Don’t limit what you think you can do based on your body.
- Focus on being healthy, not a certain body type & size.
And now we move on to talking about self-esteem.
Self-esteem is based in how you value & appreciate yourself. This is different than self-confidence, which is based in how much you believe in your skills, abilities & experiences to carry you through life. When you think about valuing and appreciating yourself, you are focusing on the health of your self-worth and if you see yourself as equal to others, it’s about the opinions and beliefs you have about yourself.
And it can feel really difficult to change the way you think about yourself because of past experiences & other judgments and opinions you have received. But it is possible if you’re able to separate what is actually true and what is assumed or fabricated.
Here are some ways you can work on strengthening your self-esteem:
- Identify what you’re good at.
- Learn to accept compliments. (Instead of going down the rabbit hole of thinking they only said something because of this or that, just take it in stride.)
- Shift your self-talk from self-cruelty to self-compassion.
- Focus on what you can change in your life.
- Don’t live in the past with mistakes, failures and unforgiveness.
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