Self-Esteem
The search for approval from others, and not getting it, can bring on depression and anxiety, affecting your self-esteem. This can lead to always thinking about the events of your life in a ‘worst-case scenario’ type of way. Allow yourself to approve of the actions you take. When the outcome is positive, it can help improve your self-esteem and lead you to think that things aren’t as bad as they seem.
To maintain that outlook, you need practice trusting yourself to make the right decisions. When a difficult situation presents itself, try to recognize how you handled similar situations that you have encountered in the past. Remember the times that you successfully handled problems, and use that knowledge to face this new situation to bring about a positive outcome. As you repeat this process with each new problem you face, you’ll get more and more positive than negative results. This in turn, can boost your self-esteem and help you have an overall better outlook on life.
The key to maintaining an improved outlook on life relies on your ability to maintain your self-esteem. You have to actively practice trusting yourself. The more you do that, the more you will see positive results that were based on your own decisions, not on what someone else told you was the right thing to do. Remember what that feels like and keep doing it. Once it becomes a regular habit, you will be able to see the world in a better light.
For example, in the past, you might have always thought that the worst would happen if you didn’t have the approval of others. Without this outside approval, you may have stopped from moving forward with projects, which led to negative consequences. Those negative consequences is where the low self-esteem, depression and anxiety linger, making your view of the world seem more grim.
Taking That First Step
Taking that first step into a scary reality is the key to realizing that the weight is not as heavy as you might think. But in order to get to that point, you have to learn to believe that you are capable of doing things based on your own decisions, and that there is nothing wrong with those decisions. It is not necessary for someone else to approve of them. You need to be able to take a more narcissistic approach, and decide for yourself that the worst will not necessarily happen.
When that turns out to be true, your self-esteem improves, which is what helps you start to think that world is not such a bad place after all. You just need to muster up the courage to face your fears and believe that you are capable of achieving goals without the approval from others. Succeeding through your own actions reinforces your self-esteem.
The Road to More Positive Thinking
Financial troubles arise. Relationships end. Plans get cancelled. Those are facts of life that happen to everybody, and are circumstances that don’t mean the world is coming to an end. Recognize how you handled such situations in the past. Then remember how you finally took control of them on your own, without the help of others. This can give you the shot in the arm that you need to face them once again, and deal with them successfully, without having to revert to getting the approval of others.
The more often you are able to test small hurdles in your life, on your terms, the easier it gets to approach the next project that causes tentative feelings, and little by little, you can build up your own self-esteem. Once this process starts to snowball and more positive results come out of feared situations, uplifting ideas occur, and things are not as bad as they seem.
