5 Simple Tricks to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Self- Worth

By Michelle Farris, Licensed Psychotherapist.

Self-esteem is the foundation for enjoying life. It’s your ability to take care of yourself emotionally, physically, and mentally—without hesitation. But when you struggle with codependency, you’re not able to prioritize your own needs because taking care of others becomes your primary focus.

In this blog, you’ll discover five simple yet effective tricks to improve your self-esteem and celebrate the progress you’ve made. These strategies ensure that you don’t lose yourself in relationships.

1. Acknowledge Your Gifts

First up: acknowledge your gifts. Grab a notebook or your phone and jot down all the things you’ve done that turned out well. Think of accomplishments, big or small, and even special traits like kindness, creativity, or resilience. When you take time to recognize your unique gifts, you’ll start to see how awesome you truly are!

Acknowledging your gifts isn’t arrogant or self-centered. Healthy self-esteem means accepting that you are neither better nor less than others. You are enough exactly as you are.

2. Build Your Self-Trust

The next task is to build self-trust. This means keeping promises to yourself, no matter how small. Whether it’s sticking to your morning routine or showing up for a commitment, trust grows when you keep your word not just to others but to yourself.

Another aspect of self-trust is learning how to pay attention to those little gut feelings that you may dismiss for lack of evidence. These feelings serve as your intuition and are trying to tell you something important. Trusting yourself leads to greater confidence and clarity in your decisions.

3. Hang Out with People Who Boost Your Self-Worth

Surround yourself with people who lift you up, not bring you down. Positive relationships are like mirrors—they reflect your best qualities back to you. Take time to assess these people in your life. Who celebrates you and encourages you to be your best self?

Prioritize these relationships because they will enhance your life. You’ll notice a huge improvement in your mood and overall ability to enjoy life when you’re surrounded by uplifting, supportive individuals.

4. Forgive Yourself for the Past

We’ve all made mistakes, but holding onto them prevents you from feeling happy. One way to forgive yourself is to pretend your best friend made the same mistake—what would you think of them? Likely, you’d offer them compassion and understanding.

Remember, forgiveness is a gift you give yourself so you can move forward and grow. Everyone makes mistakes; it’s part of being human. Personal growth involves accepting yourself, flaws and all, and learning from those missteps.

5. Challenge and Replace Negative Self-Talk

Next, let’s address that inner critic! Negative self-talk can feel so real, but it’s often based on out-dated messages that aren’t true. In childhood, we may have internalized critical messages that were more about someone else’s struggles than our own self-worth.

Whenever you catch yourself thinking something negative, challenge it. Replace it with a positive statement rooted in reality, such as, “I’m a good person who is willing to learn.” Over time, this habit can significantly shift your mindset and boost your confidence.

Final Thoughts on Self-esteem

Building self-esteem is a journey, but every step you take brings you closer to a more confident version of yourself. By acknowledging your gifts, building self-trust, surrounding yourself with uplifting people, forgiving yourself, and challenging negative self-talk, you are creating long-term growth and happiness. Remember, this is an imperfect process, so give yourself the grace to do it at your own pace. That IS self-esteem!

Michelle Farris, Codependency Expert Learn more about how Michelle can help you heal codependent relationships. FREE 7 Steps to Healing One-sided Relationships: The Codependent Solution https://counselingrecovery.lpages.co/codependent-relationship-freebie/

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This Is How to Deal with Anger Toward an Addict

By Candace Plattor. Is it ever ok to get angry with the addict I love? The truth is that many people who love addicts are people-pleasers, which is another term for codependency. My simple definition of codependency is when we put others’ needs ahead of our own, on a fairly consistent basis. Codependent people sometimes feel very guilty when they try to have their own needs met – believing, in some cases, that they are not worthy of having their needs...

7 Ways to Recognize A Toxic Relationship & What You Can Do About It

By Stephanie McPhail. Along with physical wellness and financial security, having healthy relationships is one of the biggest contributors to a balanced and fulfilling life. Sometimes, even when we appear to have achieved these things on the surface, there are indicators that we’re lacking the necessary ingredients to sustain them. When they go unaddressed, these detrimental factors will eventually undermine the contentment we desire. By learning to recognize the signs of imbalance, we can begin to take steps to correct them and...

Codependency Recovery: 7 Steps for Healing Yourself and Your Relationships

By Michelle Farris. One size does NOT fit all when it comes to codependency. Whether you relate to a few traits or all of them – recovering from codependency looks different on every person! In relationship, the codependent person ends up doing most of the giving. You give way past the point of it hurting because you need that person to make you feel whole. When codependency is an issue, you crave other people’s approval. You’re constantly looking outside of...

What Is Codependency?

By Kevin Petersen. Addiction. It’s a disease that affects the entire family. When a person suffers from addiction, it creates a detrimental impact on one’s life, and it can be difficult to watch someone you care about go through this. But let’s face it: it’s common for family members to take it upon themselves to try to heal a loved one struggling with addiction. Without proper treatment, this can turn into a toxic..

The Life-Changing Insight That Helped Me Finally Break Free From Codependency

By Marlena Tillhon. Traditional codependency literature has you believe that codependency usually emerges in romantic relationships. We only become aware of it once we’ve had our hearts broken a few dozen times and leap from unhealthy relationship to unhealthy relationship. In my personal and professional experience, codependency expresses itself through us in all areas of life and not just in our love lives...

Stop Gaslighting Your Inner Child

By Candace van Dell. In my work, I often talk about what we do to our inner child is what was done to us in childhood. We learn to parent our inner child, punish her/him, neglect, reject or abandon (if this is what was done to us). Many of these experiences create codependency...

Codependency and Childhood Neglect: What You Need To Know

By Briana MacWilliam. How does childhood neglect contribute to codependent relationships in adulthood? In this article we will explore a definition for childhood neglect and codependent relationships, and explore how one begets the other. You will also learn how to recognize if you have experienced childhood neglect...

The Natural Attraction of Codependents and Narcissists

By Carista Luminare. I have been a relationship counselor for 44 years, specializing in how the bond with our primary attachment figures impacts our adult intimacy dynamics. Our childhood experiences and development define our capacity to know what Love IS (and is not). Because of my childhood and later life relationships...

Are You Walking on Eggshells in Your Relationship?

By Rhoberta Shaler, Ph.D. When you must tread lightly because of a fragile ego, tiptoe around someone’s short temper, or be careful what you say or how you say it… that’s walking on eggshells. Do you recognize that you are walking on eggshells? It’s a difficult and uncomfortable way to be in relationship with someone! Are you always...

How To Cultivate Self-Trust

By Krista Resnick. Codependency created much pain and agony in my life. One of the ways it manifested most was my extreme lack of self trust. I would overthink decisions to death, fearful that I would choose the ‘wrong one,’ or upset someone if they didn’t agree or were disappointed by my choice. I was terrified of...

What Codependency Really Is & What It’s Doing For You

By Marshall Burtcher. Have you been told any of these things about codependency:

That it is a disease?
That it is an identity?
That it is part of who you are?
That it is permanent?
That you’ll have to cope with it for the rest of your life?...

What Does Codependency Look Like in Family Relationships?

By Yasmin Kerkez. Codependency is certainly not a new condition, and awareness of codependency is growing in the greater community. At the same time, it’s also one of those labels that many of us have heard of but don’t know exactly what it involves. In the media and online, it is most commonly linked to romantic relationships, people who exist in a caregiver role...

5 Simple Tricks to Boost Your Self-Esteem and Self- Worth

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories