So, What is Self Esteem

What is self esteem exactly and why is it important to have a good self esteem?

My personal self esteem definition is "the perception you hold about yourself, how you feel about yourself as an individual, the beliefs you have about yourself with regards to what you can achieve and your ability to deal with the daily pressures of life."

It's a bit of a long definition but for me it covers everything that self esteem is. Self esteem is all about how you feel about yourself and what you believe about yourself.

Positive and Negative Self Esteem

Since we are addressing the question of what is self esteem, I must also highlight that self esteem can either be positive or negative.

What is positive self esteem?

Let's use the definition above to explain what a positive self esteem is. We have already established that self esteem is how a person feels about themself and their ability to achieve and cope with the pressures of life, So a positive self esteem is when you as an individual see yourself as a capable person who is deserving of love and happiness, you believe that you can achieve any goal you have set yourself and you are able to cope well with setbacks and challenges and not let them stop you or make you feel like a failure.

What is negative self esteem?

A negative self esteem (usually referred to as low self esteem) is the exact opposite of a positive self esteem. This is when as an individual for one reason or the other you don't see yourself as capable and deserving of love and happiness, you find it difficult to cope with setbacks and challenges, you find it difficult to handle criticism and you take it personally and allow it to make you feel like a failure.

Low or negative self esteem usually stops people from setting and achieving goals and having a fulfilling life because it kills your motivation and makes you believe that you don't have what it takes to achieve great things and fulfil your dreams.

Studies have shown that people with a positive self esteem usually achieve and accomplish more than those with low self esteem and are more likely to have fulfilling relationships. In fact, self esteem expert Dr Joe Rubino says that "Having a high self esteem is undoubtedly one of the most critical prerequisites for a life marked by competence, fulfilment, contentment, and achievement."

Unfortunately self esteem statistics reveal that a majority of the people in the world (85% to be exact) suffer from low self esteem. This could be one of the possible explanations for why 85% of the worlds wealth is in the hand of only 15% of the world's population.

That's 85% of people in the world who don't believe in themselves, who don't cope well with challenges and setbacks and who don't believe that they are deserving of love and happiness. For me that is heartbreaking :o( because it means 85% of people in the world are living below their potential and have an unfulfilled life. This website is dedicated to those 85%.

How To Develop Self Esteem.

Personal development trainers, life coaches, motivational speakers etc are all really in the business of helping people build their self esteem so that they can have a more fulfilling life. This website is personal development, life coaching and motivation all rolled into one, so this is a great place to build and develop your self esteem.

Religion and Faith can also be a great source of self esteem development, for example Christian self esteem building is an attempt to help people feel better about themself by equipping people with the knowledge that they are an intentional and purposeful creation of God and that they are here on earth for a purpose and that their life has meaning.

Having this knowledge makes people feel more valuable, empowered and worthy because they begin to get the sense of a purposeful existence.

So, I hope that has helped you answer your question on what is self esteem, why not take some time to look around the site and use some of the resources to help you with the development of your self esteem :o)

The Best self esteem definition - Find out what it is, plus other definitions

Christian Self Esteem - How Christians can develop their self esteem

Self Esteem Statistics - Some intertesting and thought provoking self esteem statistics you might not be aware of.