Self esteem has been a topic of conversation in homes, schools and the workplace for some time now.  But do you really know what it is and – even more importantly, do you know how to build self esteem in yourself or your children? 

Having sound self esteem is important for everyone, adult or child,  With it we can reach for the stars, believe in ourselves and jump on the great opportunities that come our way.  Without it we feel fear and anxiety, we hold ourselves back, we believe we aren’t worthy of love, money, care or respect and we have a more difficult time in life. There are some heavy weight research projects that have demonstrated that without self esteem children do less well at school, have a hard time making friends, get bullied more often and have more frequent infections.

Self esteem has many definitions but what they all have in common is that it is about an inner feeling of worthiness.  Do you think you deserve to be happy, successful, loved?  The level of self esteem you have is made up from three components.

A sense of self (do you know who you are and what your strengths, preferences and wishes are?  Do you accept yourself along with any limitations you may have?)
A sense of belonging (do you know you have at least one place or person in your life where you are always welcome and are missed when you are gone for a while?)
A sense of personal power (do you know that you can and do make a difference?)
Sound self esteem means you inwardly rate yourself pretty highly and you are not going to be knocked by another person’s criticism, or be too scared of losing your friends. It is like having a protective waterproof coat that keeps you warm and dry no matter what the conditions are like. 

The good news about self esteem is that you can build it up.  The really good news is that you started with it when you were born and you can go back and reclaim that self esteem now.  What happened was like having a big sheet of paper in your hand when you were born that was all your self esteem, then little by little pieces were torn off, small piece after small piece as you lost a little bit each time someone put you down or didn’t take the time to understand you.  You can now pick up all those pieces and put your self esteem sheet back together again. 

This site gives you the top tips and best programmes to begin believing in yourself again.  Self esteem is your inheritance; start claiming it back now by entering one thing you like about yourself in the box above. Keep esteeming you!  Doing this helps us with our research too and lets you stay up to date with all the tips we post here about self esteem.