“Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand brake on.” — Maxwell Maltz
Self-esteem and self-confidence are two words used synonymously, but means two different things.
At the very basic, self-esteem is a person’s view of themselves. This is manifested by how much positive regard you have for yourself and how much love you have for yourself.
Self-confidence on the other hand is your own trust in your abilities and capabilities. You can say that your self-esteem is more intrinsic and self-confidence is energy directed extrinsically.
These two parts that make up ourselves largely tends to be fragile and with a lnegative nudge can be easily bruised and sometimes wounded to the point of slow healing. Having low self-esteem and self-confidence is okay. No one is born with perfect and unlimited supply of it. What’s important is taking steps to improve it.
We struggle with it as well, but with these basic and very simple ways that you can do right at this moment, I guarantee you a sense of change in your belief in yourself.
“A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life” – Coco Chanel
Get a Haircut
The hair has been prized item for centuries. From the story of Samson in the Bible (whose superhuman strength comes from his hair) to a phrase referring to the hair as a crowning glory, the hair has been connected to a person’s physical attractiveness.
There’s a psychology behind the feeling of a better self-esteem after a haircut or any drastic hair makeover for that matter and that lies within the word control.
Having the power to cut it or change it gives us empowerment because it’s something we can control when all the other things need sorting out.
Improve Your Posture
Aside from lesser back pains, researches from leading universities have long tried to discover the connection between good posture and the way a person feels.
Among which is a study conducted at the University of Berkeley in 2010 by Dana Carney, respondents doing a powerful stance such as walking tall regardless of whether or not they felt actually confident displayed increase in testosterone levels and lower levels of cortisol otherwise known as the stress hormone.
Because of this association of testosterone to self-confidence, the study has concluded that there is a high correlation between doing the “power pose” (straight back, good posture) and one’s self-confidence.
Smile
Feeling terrible?
Smile, even if it’s a fake smile it will make you feel better.
The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a fake and genuine smile. Pretend you’re happy and start smiling. Trust me you will feel better in a few seconds.
As you journey through the process of learning to love yourself, make it a ritual to smile at yourself.
How cool is it that a simple act such as smiling for a few times in the day can really change your brain’s activity? I’ll be smiling more now because of this finding.
Exercise Regularly
There are tons of benefits when you exercise
Exercise is necessary to maintain your body; it’s essential as it keeps your body and your mind healthy. Did you know that your self-esteem and self-confidence will increase if you exercise even for just 30 minutes a day?
Exercise works our self-esteem and self-confidence in many ways such as knowing that you’re improving in the amount of weights that you can lift or the amount of weight that you had lost. These two things are goals for many and having a sense of accomplishment can surely bring about an increase in our self-confidence and self-esteem.
Work on Small Tasks
Having a sense of accomplishment can bring about increase in one’s self-confidence and self-esteem.
Your body will release hormones that will make you feel better. So, working on small tasks helps accomplish this.
Again, you don’t need to do everything all at once to get a sense of accomplishment, out of all the things that you’ve put off, just pick out one of those things get it done. As mundane as it may seem, doing small tasks will provide you an increase in self-esteem and self-confidence… Guaranteed!
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