Self-Esteem Defined
Apr. 25th, 2011 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakurablossomLet's start by defining self-esteem and differentiating it from self-image and self-concept. Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself as a person -- your overall judgment of yourself. Your self-esteem may be high or low, depending on how much you like or approve of yourself. If you have high self-esteem, you have an appreciation of the full extent of your personality. This means that you accept yourself for who you are, with both your good qualities and your so-called bad ones. It can be assumed that you have self-respect, self-love, and feelings of self-worth. You don't need to impress others because you already know you have value. If you are unsure whether you have high self-esteem, ask yourself: "Do I believe that I am lovable?" "Do I believe I am worthwhile?"
Our feelings of self-worth form the core of our personality. Nothing is as important to our psychological well-being. The level of our self-esteem affects virtually every aspect of our lives. It affects how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us, and how they subsequently treat us. It affects our choices in life, from our careers to whom we befriend or get involved with romantically. It influences how we get along with others and how productive we are, as well as how much use we make of our aptitudes and abilities. It affects our ability to take action when things need to be changed and our ability to be creative. It affects our stability, and it even affects whether we tend to be followers or leaders. It only stands to reason that the level of our self-esteem, the way we feel about ourselves in general, would also affect our ability to form intimate relationships.
Many people use the words self-esteem and self-concept interchangeably, but these terms actually have different meanings. Our self-concept, or self-image, is the set of beliefs or images we have about ourselves. Our self-esteem is the measure of how much we like and approve of our self-concept. Another way of thinking about it is that self-esteem is how much respect you have for yourself, while self-image is how you see yourself. Still another way of differentiating between self-esteem and self-image is to think of self-esteem as something you give to yourself (that's why it is called self-esteem) and self-image is usually based on how you imagine others perceive you.
Our self-image is made up of a wide variety of images and beliefs. Some of these are self-evident and easily verifiable (for example, "I am a woman," "I am a therapist"). But there are also other, less tangible aspects of the self (for example, "I am intelligent," "I am competent").
Many of the ideas we have about ourselves were acquired in childhood from two sources: how others treated us and what others told us about ourselves. How other defined us has thus become how we now perceive ourselves. Your self-image -- who you think you are -- is a package that you have put together from how others have seen and treated you, and from the conclusions you drew in comparing yourself to others.
Healing Your Emotional Self - Beverly Engel (pages 12-14) *If you're interested in more discussions on self-esteem check out![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
the_sanctuary.
Our feelings of self-worth form the core of our personality. Nothing is as important to our psychological well-being. The level of our self-esteem affects virtually every aspect of our lives. It affects how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us, and how they subsequently treat us. It affects our choices in life, from our careers to whom we befriend or get involved with romantically. It influences how we get along with others and how productive we are, as well as how much use we make of our aptitudes and abilities. It affects our ability to take action when things need to be changed and our ability to be creative. It affects our stability, and it even affects whether we tend to be followers or leaders. It only stands to reason that the level of our self-esteem, the way we feel about ourselves in general, would also affect our ability to form intimate relationships.
Many people use the words self-esteem and self-concept interchangeably, but these terms actually have different meanings. Our self-concept, or self-image, is the set of beliefs or images we have about ourselves. Our self-esteem is the measure of how much we like and approve of our self-concept. Another way of thinking about it is that self-esteem is how much respect you have for yourself, while self-image is how you see yourself. Still another way of differentiating between self-esteem and self-image is to think of self-esteem as something you give to yourself (that's why it is called self-esteem) and self-image is usually based on how you imagine others perceive you.
Our self-image is made up of a wide variety of images and beliefs. Some of these are self-evident and easily verifiable (for example, "I am a woman," "I am a therapist"). But there are also other, less tangible aspects of the self (for example, "I am intelligent," "I am competent").
Many of the ideas we have about ourselves were acquired in childhood from two sources: how others treated us and what others told us about ourselves. How other defined us has thus become how we now perceive ourselves. Your self-image -- who you think you are -- is a package that you have put together from how others have seen and treated you, and from the conclusions you drew in comparing yourself to others.
Healing Your Emotional Self - Beverly Engel (pages 12-14) *If you're interested in more discussions on self-esteem check out
the_sanctuary.