Self-Esteem and Confidence
Self-esteem and confidence have some similarities, but they are not the same. Self-esteem refers to the ways that you appreciate and value yourself. Confidence is about your belief in yourself and your abilities. While it’s best for self-esteem to remain steady and not be impacted by context and ability, it can be healthy for our confidence to wain during activities in which we have little skill, knowledge, or ability.
When we have low self-esteem and/or confidence (in ways that are not healthy) this can impact our mental health. Having low self-esteem or self-confidence can also impact the ways we show up at work or school, in our relationships, and how we tackle problems that come our way. When we don’t feel capable or like we can bounce back from the hard stuff, we may be more prone to feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and depression. We may avoid social situations, taking necessary risks to achieve our goals, or be overly hard on ourselves when we make mistakes (both big and small).
Ways Therapy Can Help You Build Self-Confidence & Self-Esteem
- Working with a counselor or therapist can help you build self-confidence and self-esteeem by first helping you identify patterns and areas in your life where you may be overly hard on yourself. Becoming aware of our negative thought patterns can help us better recognize them and stop them in the future. Often, therapists use modalities like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients learn to catch and challenge negative thought patterns.
- A therapist can help you learn practices of self-acceptance and ways to build a positive relationship with yourself. Once a person stops being so hard on themselves, it can often feel like they don’t know how to relate to themselves at all or “who they are” since they are so used to relating to themselves from a critical lens. Working with a therapist helps people to create and define a new type of relationship with themselves and learn about who they are if they aren’t so “terrible, incapable, awful, or broken”.
- Working with a therapist or counselor can help you develop shame resilience and increase your tolerance for making mistakes. The average person makes 39 mistakes a day. Developing acceptance and grace with this natural part of our humanity is a healthy part of healing from negative self-talk and low self-esteem.
- Working with a therapist or counselor can help you rewrite negative stories you have about yourself and learn about your core values and what you really care about. Learning more about who you are, your strengths, and your passions often helps people naturally focus more on what they care about instead of overly and negatively analyzing themselves. Essentially, it’s hard to be hard on ourselves when we are too busy connecting with the world, being present, or focusing on our values and the things we believe are bigger than us).
Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem Counseling in Wichita
One of the best and most effective ways to improve your self-esteem and confidence is to work with a therapist or counselor who specializes in these issues. If you or a loved one is looking to increase your self-esteem and self-confidence, there is hope and healing. You can find local therapists that work with self-esteem and confidence at Soma Therapy by contacting our admin at 316-201-6047 or filling out our contact form.