Understanding the Complex Concept of Self
The importance of self-esteem, self-worth, and self-confidence
Understanding what makes up self-esteem, self-worth, and confidence can be a way to harness control of mental health and increase positive health relationships. Knowing that this is an evolving process can bring a sense of ease that you are not alone in these feelings. Whatever point you are at with your own feelings of self-esteem there is always room for more understanding and self-compassion. Practices of increasing self-esteem and confidence have been linked to positive emotions, beneficial health behaviors, and eating habits.
What does this all mean?
Self-esteem, self-worth and self-confidence are all key aspects of how a person feels and their own relationship to personal mental health. “Self-esteem is a simplistic term for varied and complex mental states pertaining to how one views oneself” (Bailey, 2003). Researchers have found that self-esteem and feelings of value or worth are closely associated with overall feelings of well-being (Du et al., 2017).
While this may seem to be common sense, the answers are not always so straightforward, and often throughout a person’s life feelings of self-esteem, confidence, and self-worth can fluctuate. Individuals may derive their sense of self-worth from multiple sources, “such as one’s personal attributes, one’s relationships with significant others, and one’s membership in social groups” (Du et al., 2017). “Research has shown that around 50% of our personality and our self-worth feelings are inherited; the rest is environmental” these are crucial aspects, “parenting, schooling, work, sports, pastimes, relationships, and so on make up the remaining 50% (Horsburgh, Schermer, Veselka, & Vernon, 2009; Svedberg, Hallsten, Narusyte, Bodin, & Blom, 2016; Bleidorn et al., 2018)” (Sutton, 2020).
Complex Concept of Self
The concept of the self is complex and can be measured at multiple levels, “according to social identity theory, self-esteem can be derived from both the personal self and the social self” (Du et al., 2017). The personal self is how someone engages with their own unique traits and attributes (Du et al., 2017). When referring to the social self this is how people relate to relational and collective aspects, examples being; family, friendships, community, cultural or ethnic backgrounds, etc. (Du et al., 2017). How a person defines their role within these relationships and the feelings of communal support or lack thereof can shape how one’s internal feelings of self-esteem come about.
When comparing self-esteem to health and eating habits it has been studied that a lower sense of self-worth was correlated with a lower intake of fruits and vegetables, this was also seen in individuals who lacked optimal social and economic support (Elfhag & Rasmussen, 2008). Ways to increase and build feelings of self-esteem and self-worth can take time but are always evolving. Increasing confidence and self-acceptance can be a place to start. Understanding more about personal internal awareness and meeting yourself with compassion can start to shift the dynamic.
“Self-confidence means recognition of your abilities, self-interest, and awareness of your feelings” (Bayat et al., 2019). By recognizing and valuing your own feelings and abilities confidence begins to increase, with an increase in confidence a person can engage in more trust within their personal choices. This can reflect confidence in boundary setting as well as choosing to engage in behaviors that support health goals. Boundaries can be a very valuable aspect of self-esteem and self-worth. Knowing how and when to create a boundary for one’s self or within an interpersonal situation can internalize respect and limitations for the self. “Expressing a good feeling can be along with statements such as agreeing to yourself and the consent of those who are around you, encouragement, and courage” (Bayat et al., 2019). This is where the social and personal self-esteem traits begin to overlap during daily practices and boundaries.
As a person honors their own needs, expresses those to others and in turn, see the results of others respecting their requests, confidence begins to strengthen. “Self-confidence is one of the most important factors in mental health … self-confidence is in fact the difference between self-perceived (which means an objective image of yourself) and the ideal itself (which means what a valuable person knows) so that the high difference between these two leads to lower self-esteem and a small difference between these two indicates a high self-esteem” (Bayat et al., 2019). Daily quality of life can be influenced by self-esteem and the attitude a person views their abilities, each choice made can be a reflection of how a person is feeling (Bayat et al., 2019).
Helpful Practices
Some practices that can help support mental health, and increase confidence and self-esteem are: checking in with yourself, creating affirmations, journaling, self-care practices, self-compassion exercises, and social connection with trusted supportive people. Checking in with emotions and mental health can provide awareness, exploring expressing emotions, naming those emotions, and speaking with a trusted person can increase emotional intelligence and connection.
Journaling can be a great way to reduce stress and recount the positive or negative parts of what is happening in your life and mind. Self-care practices are ways to reduce stress and bring joy, and peace and express how you care about yourself as a person. Self-compassion is a powerful and evidence-based technique that has been shown to help increase self-esteem and feelings of safety.
Utilizing affirmations can help to remind, inspire and bring about confidence or reassurance. Creating an affirmation or mantra can be specific and unique phrases that are meaningful to you, when choosing an affirmation create a phrase that evokes the feeling that you are looking for. Helping to give yourself reminders of what you want to see or feel in your daily practices can help to shift overall feelings of confidence, self-worth and influence wellbeing positively.
Overall Tips
- Check-in with yourself — what emotions are you experiencing and what makes you feel confident or not
- Create an affirmation that inspires a feeling you enjoy or want more of
- Use journaling to get thoughts out and recap what is going on for you
- Self-care practices — show yourself a little love and relaxation
- Self-compassion exercises — showing compassion and understanding support mental health
- Social connection with trusted supportive people — surround yourself with people who make you feel empowered, confident, and supported. Having trusted people to confide in and share emotions with can help support mental health and progression towards goals you have in mind.
References
Bailey J. A., 2nd (2003). The foundation of self-esteem. Journal of the National Medical Association, 95(5), 388–393.
Bayat, B., Akbarisomar, N., Tori, N. A., & Salehiniya, H. (2019). The relation between self-confidence and risk-taking among the students. Journal of education and health promotion, 8, 27. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_174_18
Du, H., King, R. B., & Chi, P. (2017). Self-esteem and subjective well-being revisited: The roles of personal, relational, and collective self-esteem. PloS one, 12(8), e0183958. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183958
Elfhag, K., & Rasmussen, F. (2008). Food consumption, eating behavior, and self-esteem among single v. married and cohabiting mothers and their 12-year-old children. Public health nutrition, 11(9), 934–939. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980008002449
Sutton, Jeremy. “Self-Esteem Research: 20 Most Fascinating Findings”. Positive Psychology, 24 September 2020, https://positivepsychology.com/self-esteem-research/#practices.
