Try these questions to help you focus on your strengths and good points. It makes sense to focus on the good and minimise the bad. Get a pen and paper ready and write the answers down.
1) What do you like about yourself, however small and fleeting? What qualities do you possess, even if less than 100% perfect?
2) What do other people value/compliment you on, thank you for, ask you to do?
3) What qualities and actions do you value in others? Which do you share, even if only to a lesser degree?
4) What aspects of you would you appreciate if they were aspects of another person?
5) What do you do that you would value if another person did it?
6) What have you achieved in your life, however small?
7) What gifts and talents do you have, however modest?
8) What can you do well (well, not perfectly)?
9) What skills have you acquired? What do you know how to do? (home, work, leisure, social)
10) How would you describe yourself as a… eg friend/mother/colleague?
11) How would someone who cared about you and was on your side describe you?
12) What do you do for other people, or with other people’s good in mind? What qualities in you does that reflect?
13) Are you cruel, dishonest, unreliable? If not, you must be something else. What is it?
In your life, what challenges have you faced? What anxieties have you tried to overcome? What qualities in you does this show?
The above questions are a good way to elicit positives about yourself and help you in overcoming low self esteem. It pays to think highly of yourself and be your number one fan. This doesn’t mean arrogance or feeling superior but it is about liking yourself and achieving your true potential. This can only be achieved with a strong sense of self belief and self acceptance.
Mandy X
Author: Mandy Kloppers
Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.
