A lot of people are confused about the difference between self esteem and self confidence. But it’s quite easy to distinguish the two. Self-esteem is all about how you feel about yourself as a person. On the other hand, confidence is the belief or being confident about one’s skills and abilities. A person has high self-confidence but low self-esteem. However, people who have high self-esteem are mostly deemed confident by the people around them. For instance, checking in with your dentist regularly will enable you to get a healthy smile, and this allows you to have self-esteem as your appearance is admirable.
To understand self esteem and confidence, let us discuss them separately.
Self Esteem
As mentioned, self-esteem is how you see yourself from the inside. This is very much noticeable by the people around you. It’s good to have self-esteem as it reflects on how you act on the outside. This is the reason why individuals with good self-esteem are always regarded as confident people as well. Because when you feel good on the inside, your performance in your career or academics will show signs of success.
How do you get good self-esteem? By having a good sense of self-love. It’s when you see the goodness in you despite the challenges and negativities in your life. It is also about loving yourself for whoever you are as a person, accepting your flaws, and being genuinely content with yourself.
For some people, getting self-esteem is quite hard, especially if they isolate themselves from the people that can show them what love is. It may sound cliche, but the love of the people around you will boost your self-esteem. Your love for your parents, children, and friends is what serves as your anchor to self-acceptance.
In addition to this, low self-esteem typically happens when a person’s mental health is unstable and when they have negative self-perceptions.
Ways To Improve Self Esteem
Your opinion about yourself will only improve if you try to wash away all the negative feelings inside you. Once you’ve decided to make a change, it’s time to start to feed yourself with positive self perspectives. Here are some of the tips to make the beauty from the inner you shine on the outside:
Identify the negative thoughts and beliefs in your head.
Improving self-esteem is personal. It’s about digging deep within while trying to search for the bad things that you have inside you. Write down the things that you don’t like about yourself and learn how to manage them.
Practice self-talk with positivity.
Sometimes, the only way for you to develop self-esteem is by talking to yourself in the mirror. Try to convince yourself that you are a great person by saying these lines to yourself:
- I am amazing
- I’m beautiful no matter what
- I am good enough
- I am not a failure
- My family loves me
Other ways to improve self-esteem include:
- stop comparing yourself with others
- stay away from toxic relationships
- have a break once in a while
- value your time and learn to say no when you mean it
- focus on your physical health
Self Confidence
The good news is that self-confidence is somehow easier to build than self-esteem. Why? Because it is associated with your talents, skills, and abilities. If you believe that you do not have any special skill or ability, you can develop one and practice being good at it.
The thing about self-confidence is that it adds value to you as an individual. Those who are self-confident tend to receive more achievements in life. They are also more successful in their career and profession as they use their skills confidently to do great things.
Confident children take tasks as challenges as they want to achieve something that they can be proud of. It is important to build self-confidence as early as school years since it is their training ground before facing the reality of life. Teachers often notice that students who are active in extracurricular activities in school are more confident as they know that their knowledge in skills that they are honing will bring them success in the future.
However, self-confidence can also be easily damaged. For example, you could lose confidence when someone tells you that you are not good with what you are doing. You might also feel down if you let one failure define your abilities as a whole.
Ways To Improve Self Confidence
You can boost your self-confidence by staying focused on the things that you are good at. In addition, you may also improve your confidence with practice. If your job is currently requiring you to do things you are very good at, learn how to improve your performance. Because believe it or not, being successful and getting achievements are all possible with hard work.
Exert effort.
If you have plenty of extra time, use them wisely. Take an extra course and improve your knowledge of certain things.
For instance, you may opt to enroll in a baking class if you are working for a pastry restaurant.
Be open to try new things.
You can be self-confident by learning new hobbies and skills. A lot of people are not even aware of the things that they are good at, as a result, they let time go by without even trying to make use of their talents. Don’t make the same mistake by sitting on your couch every day doing nothing.
References:
The Difference Between Self Confidence and Self Esteem (https://add.org/self-confidence-vs-self-esteem/)
6 Ways to Build Your Self-Confidence (https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-boost-your-self-confidence-4163098)
Improving Self-Esteem (https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/self-esteem.html)