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Self-Esteem and Self-Improvement

© Shelia Collier

So, where do I begin? A good place to start is to determine what your level of self esteem actually is based on some kind of standard. Since, we are an online community the resource that I will recommend are online and always free. Using a self-esteem inventory (test) is one way to begin working on improving your own self-esteem. I took the inventory found at http://www.psychtests.com/selfest.html and I was pleased with the assessment and with the ease of the evaluation. This is a fantastic place to start improving how you feel about yourself. You may be surprised by what you learn.

Most of the time, especially as females, we are taught and learn to be kind to others, help others, and love others. If you become a mother at an early age, you learn all the more quickly that you are fully responsible for the life of another person. We devote ourselves to selflessly providing financial, physical, emotional and moral support to our child or children. Some where along the way the person who gets left out is always the one most relied upon, you. Very few people grew up realizing the importance of being kind to yourself, seeking help from others, and loving yourself.

As I stated in my first article, the metaphor that I found helpful in defining the importance of taking care of yourself is the safety speech on an airplane. The flight attendant stresses that if you are with a child or other individual that cannot put the oxygen mask on without assistance, you must first put a mask on yourself, because if you lose consciousness, you cannot help anyone. Let's all consider today as the day that we reach up and get that mask. We put the mask over out nose and mouth and breath in the realization that it is vital that we love ourselves. Give yourself quality time to do what you want to do. Be generous, you are with all the other people in your life. Maybe you can get up an hour earlier so you have time to take a walk, a long bath or give yourself a facial. Or you could put the kids to bed thirty minutes early and spend time alone. Perhaps you can make the house work everyone's responsibility and leave some time for you.

Take some time for yourself. Take a self-esteem inventory, there are several to be found online and in bookstores. There is another at one that I found online at http://www.wellnessnet.com/testesarticle... This one takes more time and requires you to figure your results by hand. I would recommend that you look at a couple, even take a couple of them. The main thing is to learn something new about yourself. You may be surprised to find that your self-esteem is not what you would like it to be or that it is just where you want it. If the results of the test, do nothing more than make you take a moment to evaluate your own self worth and appreciate it, it will be worth the few minutes you spend taking the tests. When you read the recommendations, think about how this effects your life. And most importantly, evaluate what things you are doing or could do to improve the quality of your life. Self-esteem is a measure of how much you realize that you too are an important contribution to the human race.