Having someone wince when they taste the not-so-delicious dinner you prepared will hurt a chef’s self-esteem much more than someone for whom cooking is not a significant aspect of their identity. The more meaningful a specific domain of self-esteem, the greater the impact it has on our global self-esteem. Further complicating matters, our self-esteem comprises both our global feelings about ourselves as well as how we feel about ourselves in the specific domains of our lives (e.g., as a father, a nurse, an athlete, etc.). Part of the problem is that our self-esteem is rather unstable to begin with, as it can fluctuate daily, if not hourly. Despite the endless array of articles, programs and products promising to enhance our self-esteem, the reality is that many of them do not work and some are even likely to make us feel worse. When our self-esteem is higher, we are also less vulnerable to anxiety we release less cortisol into our bloodstream when under stress, and it is less likely to linger in our system.īut as wonderful as it is to have higher self-esteem, it turns out that improving it is no easy task. Brain scan studies demonstrate that when our self-esteem is higher, we are likely to experience common emotional wounds such as rejection and failure as less painful, and bounce back from them more quickly.
When our self-esteem is higher, we not only feel better about ourselves, we are more resilient as well. Many of us recognize the value of improving our feelings of self-worth. Psychologist Guy Winch explains why - and describes smart ways we can help build ourselves up.
Monica Ramos Everyone is in favor of high self-esteem - but cultivating it can be surprisingly tough.