by Sarah Stewart Having a strong sense of self-worth does not, unfortunately, come naturally to a lot of people, myself included. It is something that you have to work at, build upon, and tailor to your needs. Maybe you’ve never been sure of yourself, have always been shy or you’ve had that feeling of wanting to do something but feeling terrified to start. There’s a lot that goes into overcoming those fears. You may need to challenge limiting beliefs that you subconsciously formed years ago, or take yourself out of situations where people undermine your abilities. It won’t always be easy but I can assure you that once you feel some self-worth, once you start setting boundaries and stop letting people treat you poorly, you will feel empowered. Here are my top five tips on how to build your self-worth. #1 Positive reinforcement – When you talk negatively to yourself or put yourself or your achievements down, stop and ask yourself ‘would I say this to another person, to a friend? If not, why am I saying it to myself?’ We as people are our own harshest critics but we need to learn how to praise ourselves and give ourselves a bit more credit. 5 TIPS TO BUILD SELF WORTH
You should try and develop positive statements you can say to yourself to replace negative thoughts. For example, if you have the following thought ‘I always make mistakes’ then you can flip this around and the thought becomes ‘there are many things that I do well.’ If the thought is ‘I am not worthy of anything’ flip this around to ‘I am a valuable person.’ Changing negative thoughts into positive ones takes time and repetition but just like with affirmations, the more often you practice, the more you will start to believe them. An extra tip on this point is to write down five positive thoughts about yourself on paper and stick them where you will see them often to be reminded, places like the fridge or a mirror are great for this. It won’t be easy at first, but really think about five things that you like or even love about yourself, it could be anything from your smile to the way you like to help others, just make it specific to you. #2 Recognise your strengths and work focused on those. Another great way to gain some confidence is recognising your strengths and talents and concentrating on those. Not everyone will be amazing at everything and that’s okay, it’s important to accept what we are capable of and what our limitations are and most of all, to be happy with that. Sometimes to find out what your thing is, you have to first find out what it isn’t, and that’s ok too.
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker