Self esteem

[harasgenster]

Hi
I feel like a lot of my issues are self esteem issues. I feel like I'm quite confident about some stuff, though these are generally down to principle. Things like: I don't worry if someone doesn't like me because I'm a good person so if they don't like me it's for a silly reason. Also, I don't worry about my image, or rather I don't try to look pretty etc/don't make an effort because I don't feel bad if I don't look great and, whatever state I'm in, when I look in the mirror I generally think I look fine.

Those are the ways in which I think I do have good self esteem. However, I think with a lot of things, I rely on external praise to make me feel ok. This includes sexiness (I see this as different from pretty), intelligence, whether or not I'm funny, whether I'm weird, if I'm boring or interesting etc.

As a result, if I see any signs that I might be stupid, unsexy, not funny, boring etc then I assume these things to be true and can spiral into depression for weeks on end.

I'm awaiting therapy but wondered what I might be able to do in the meantime. Has anyone else managed to tackle low self esteem?

[Gemzy]

swelf esteem is quite a big issue and it can affect lots of people in different ways, i didnt even realise i had low self esteem before i started my CBT (which is actually to deal with a phobia). i was given a chart that i had to fill in daily and write the good things i had done and which personal qualities they showed, well at first i was really bad at it i couldnt think of one positive thing to say about myself because i was so consumed by the negatives caused by my phobia. i would reccomend giving it a go if you suffer from low self esteem, hope this helps