Episode 25 Part 2 - Self esteem: May your life be as awesome as it appears on social media

Letters to my kids: A suicide survivor's lessons and advice for life

Episode 25 Part 2 - Self esteem: May your life be as awesome as it appears on social media

Music: “Just A Blip” by Andy G. Cohen From the Free Music Archive Released under a Creative Commons Attribution International License

https://www.miuc.org/importance-of-positive-self-esteem/

Self esteem Statistics and interesting facts:

http://www.medicine.indiana.edu/iu_medicine/02_fall/teenSex.html

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Abrams1.html

http://selfesteem-activities.com/statistics-on-self-esteem/

85% of the world's population are affected by low self esteem. Source: The self esteem book, Dr Joe Rubino.

"Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure that you are not in fact, just surrounding yourself with assholes" - William Gibson

1. Recognize that Self-Esteem is Self-Imposed

Self-esteem isn't something that exists independently--you either have it or you don't. No, self-esteem changes based upon how you think of yourself. Self-esteem is not a reaction to what others think of you but how you think of you. Yet, too frequently, we give this power to others and use them as the yardstick to measure ourselves.

By recognizing that self-esteem is your choice and not based upon how others treat you, you can change your self-esteem.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent" - Eleanor Roosevelt

Step 2. Write Your Life Script

What is a life script? Each of us has a set of beliefs about ourselves. Initially, these beliefs develop in childhood based upon how others view us and treat us. Some people view their life script as unchangeable: “I can't help it! It's who I am.” However, other people edit their life scripts. Sometimes they need to learn how to edit it (such as what you are doing now) and sometimes they edit it naturally.

Some areas to focus on; as a start: - Competence (SWOT analysis) - General (What do you think of yourself, what you like about yourself) - Appearance (Are you satisfied with how you look, do you try to look your best) - Competitive (Are you overly harsh/demanding on yourself?, How do you view success/failure?) - Creative (Do you like what you do, are you able to express yourself, both to others and to yourself?) - Social (How others feel about you, why so? How do you treat others? Do you need approval?) - Intimate Relationships (Are you satisfied with your relationship choices, do you feel you're able to attract people?)

"To thine own self be true" - Shakespeare

writing Developing better self-esteem requires editing. However, to edit a life script, it is necessary to first write the life script. This step will be difficult because it means writing down your current view of yourself. If your self-esteem is low, then this script may be quite negative. Many people will be tempted to skip this step as it can be very painful to see in black and white our view of ourselves. Others might want to not write it down thinking that they are quite aware of it. But writing it is necessary because there is something very powerful about an actual edit—crossing out and replacing words or adding different beliefs. "I am not what has happened to me. I am what I choose to become" - Carl Jung