What does the term self-esteem mean to you? How important is it to develop one’s self-worth and attitude towards themselves? Merging various definitions, self-esteem is defined as ‘how we value ourselves; it is how we perceive our value to the world and how important we think we are to others, it reflects a person’s overall subjective enthusiastic evaluation of their worth. It is a judgment of oneself as well as an attitude toward the self’.
Usually, you’ll hear the terms low self-esteem or high self-esteem being used to describe the character/personality of an individual depending on how they react in any given situation. The characteristics of a person with a high or positive self-esteem include confidence, optimism, trusting, ability to accept mistakes from others and themselves as well as to learn from them. While the characteristics of an individual with low self-esteem include a pessimistic outlook on life, fear of taking risks, mistrusting others and a blaming behavior.
Read more by Carolyn Ehrlich LCSW, CGP specializes in Relationship Counseling NYC