Welcome back to our blog!

In today’s post, our amazing blogger of the month Juliana Joy Odhiambo shares with  us THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT SELF-ESTEEM

The word self-esteem in psychology is used to describe a person’s overall subjective sense of personal worth or value as well as the confidence they may have in their abilities. That means you have high self-esteem when you see yourself as high value or believe in your abilities while the reverse is true for low self-esteem. There is one word that I think is important to note in the above description and hopefully, it will form our understanding of what self-esteem is. That word is subjective.

When we were young our self-esteem was built by other people around us and how they treated us as well as the event we were a part of and how they skewed the perceptions we had of ourselves, it seems because we had no control over what we thought of ourselves because we literally didn’t have the ability to think for ourselves, so we relied on the adults around us to do it for us.

 The good news is that as we grow into adults ourselves, we are capable of forming our own opinions and therefore getting into the driver’s seat of our self-esteem.

Admittedly, this is easier said than done. Some of us have suffered traumatic events that have left us scarred while others have formed a nasty habit of determining their value by what the people around us think of us. Even society is built in such a way that we must look for the approval of others in order to feel worthy. The truth is feedback is helpful. We cannot improve or grow without it but when we allow it to shape our self-worth then we are giving up control. I am reminded of a verse in the bible “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he” proverbs 23:7.

Taking control doesn’t mean waking up one day and deciding to have high self-esteem. Taking control means taking small steps to regain control over your self-worth. This may mean going to counseling once a week or it may mean consciously detaching your value from how people see you.

I can assure you that every step you take towards improvement, no matter how small it is, will be a huge step in taking back control of your self-esteem.

You are all that you say you are and so much more, believe in yourself, invest in your growth, and keep your head up high.

XOXO