Self loving

Hey guys! Remember a few months back, I blogged about Confidence is Beautiful? Today, I'm going to be talking about a very similar topic - Self Esteem.

So some of you may wonder what exaclty is "Self Esteem?" Having self esteem is feeling good about yourself, believing in your potential and engaging in lifelong growth and development. This is among one of the many problems teenagers of our generation faces nowadays and more often than not, we find ourselves unable to help to deal with (or even identify) such problems arising from the society we are living in now.

I have a friend who has low self esteem and would always be comparing herself with others, and always be hard on herself for "not matching up" to people who she thinks is better than her (which, to her, was everyone). As friends, my other friends and I were always unsure what to say to her to help her boost her self esteem - complimenting her didn't seem to help. She would always think that she's fat when she's not and ends up dieting and eating in very small amounts when we're out, and she would always belittle herself no matter what.

Personally, I've also experienced how having low self esteem really affects a person. I used to feel very inferior about my teeth pre-braces and generally about how I looked to others (I wouldn't take pictures with me smiling with my teeth showing, won't laugh widely because I was afraid my teeth would jut out, and the likes), and that I'd constantly compare myself with pretty girls and feel ugly again - then it's a cycle from there. I know that it's not doing me any good to view myself in such a light but I couldn't stop myself from doing and then feeling the way I did. Now when I do look back at it, I realised that I wasn't loving myself for me - but that I felt inclined to only love myself when society approves (which is pretty whack). I now prefer the more confident me, and I'm pretty sure it eludes a better aura than my older self.

Not only does having low self esteem induce self-hate, it can also make a person feel worthless and poweless to change anything. I know many teenagers (and adults) face the issue of low self-esteem, and at some point of time people will most likely go through the feeling of feeling that you are lacking as compared to others.

Before we get started, you definitely have to first identify characteristics of low self esteem. I've googled a pretty good article, and i found it pretty helpful. Credits to Ezinearticles

You have to learn to love yourself for who you are, not for what someone or society wants you to be.

Self-acceptance is important, but only when you believe in and love yourself can you function to the best of your abilities.

Granted that we all have our plus and minus, the key point in this is to push yourself through your weakness(es) and let yourself shine through.

Remember: nobody is perfect, and you don't have to push yourself to reach an imaginary finish line of perfection that doesn't exist.

Complimenting yourself, and your friends.

I notice that more often than not, we're always finding faults with others rather than giving compliments - taking for granted that doing well in something is a given and that it doesn't need to be given recognition for; but it becomes a whole world of difference when someone does something wrongly or doesn't excel like expected.

Take some time everyday to just tell write down something positive about yourself, and let your friends know something positive about them too (and please mean it when you tell them). I'm sure you'll make yourself (and your friends) happier, no matter how minute it is.

With that, I hope you guys can help yourselves and/or your friends with issues regarding low self esteem.

In addition to that, I'm going to share with you guys about breathe.sg and their mini web series CLICK (new episodes every Tuesday and Friday 6pm @ breathe.sg's Facebook page).

CLICK is about 5 friends who are dealing with the different problems that teenagers go through these days. I have gotten to preview a few episodes and I'm really looking forward to catching up on the rest with you guys!

Remember to check out breathe.sg's Facebook page to watch the CLICK episodes, as well as breathe.sg for more resources for coping with such problems (that teenagers face).



You can watch any episodes you've missed out on here!