5 Healthier Ways to Improve Your Self Worth

The subject of self-worth is often confused with its sister categories of self-esteem and self-confidence. These three concepts are very similar with one notable exception.

Self-esteem and self-confidence focus on how you might feel about or act on your abilities. Self-worth is much more basic. It’s the feeling that you’re worth something, that you deserve to be treated with respect, and that you have a place in this world. You don’t have to achieve anything or be good at things to have self-worth. You just need to exist.

However, not everyone feels like they have great self-worth. Unfortunately, a person’s worth is often measured either intrinsically or extrinsically in the following categories:

  • Who you know
  • How you look
  • What you do for a living/What you make
  • What you own
  • What you accomplish

There’s nothing wrong with knowing influential people, looking great, making a lot of money, owning the coolest stuff, or winning awards. These things can naturally boost your self-worth—but they shouldn’t be the only factors that influence how you feel about yourself and your role in this world.

If you want a strong sense of self, invest a little into understanding your self-worth. There are a few things you can do to better achieve that sense of belonging and self-respect that you deserve just for being alive.

1. Take Care of Yourself

Invest in your own personal care. This generally involves developing good hygiene habits like showering regularly, combing and styling your hair, dressing appropriately, etc.

If you want to take a step further and address a certain aspect of your appearance, feel free! For example, you might look into hair loss remedies to improve the image you see in the mirror. This can be a great way to take care of yourself and improve your self-worth as long as you recognize that your investment in your appearance is not what makes you worthy of respect.

2. Trust Yourself

It can be extremely useful to get advice and guidance from those you trust, but that doesn’t mean you should follow their guidance blindly. Many who struggle with feeling worthy of respect and attention believe that they can’t make a decision without checking with others first.

Learn to listen to your gut. The next time you feel inclined to make a choice, think it through, then go full speed ahead without asking permission. You might make a mistake, or you might do exactly the right thing. The only way to know and learn is to trust yourself. The more you do, the easier it gets.

3. Do Things Only for You

 

As you go throughout a standard day, start evaluating why you do the things you do. Do you wear makeup because YOU like it? Or is it simply a social convention you feel forced to follow? Do you help other people because YOU want to? Or do you do it only because you feel obligated?

Doing things because you want to do them is vital to learning to trust and value yourself. The more time you spend on yourself, the more you’ll see how yourself as a valuable asset just the way you are.

4. Take Control of Your Life

If there are areas of your life in chaos, it can easily feel like you’ve spiraled out of control and have no direction to follow. When you’re wandering aimlessly through life, it’s difficult to define your role.

Step back and take control. Identify one area of your life that needs attention, and jump in. If your finances are a problem, for example, you might seek financial advisement and get organized. Rather than submitting to exorbitant interest rates and late notices from creditors, you might declare bankruptcy and start again.

There are many areas of your life that you might have allowed lapsing, but there’s no better time than the present to take charge and learn your value.

5. Be Choosy About Your Friends

Our friends and those we associate with often define who we are. Although you shouldn’t allow others to influence you so strongly, it’s human nature. Some friends are a perfect complement to you because they’re respectful of boundaries, support you, and love you unconditionally.

Others can be a challenge to your emotional well-being. They might be co-dependent, draining you of energy and putting you down. It can be hard to feel you deserve respect when your toxic relationships are dragging you down.

 

Your self-worth is not something that can be taken from you, but as the world beats you down you might forget what it is. Use this opportunity to learn about yourself and take charge of your life to see that you have a respected place in this world, no matter how you look, what you do, and who your friends are.

 

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