Three Ways You Can Stop The Cycle Of Low Self Esteem

Everyone's egos are susceptible to some bruising now and again. Sometimes you can get into a funk and smack yourself in the forehead for a mistake or failure. But when this behavior and feeling of self-blame is pervasive and keeps you in a low-level state of depression, it's time to pick yourself, dust yourself off, and give your low self esteem a makeover.

Conquering this will take patience and perseverance, but the steps required are simple and practical enough. Make a habit of the following rituals and start yourself on the path to feeling good about yourself again.

1. Keep a running log of bad thoughts.

Every time a bad thought starts to creep into your head, take a count. Keep a tally throughout each day in a notepad. The purpose of this is to get you to put the brakes on the thought itself so you can record its occurrence. You won't make any epiphanies during the process, but there will definitely be progress to be seen at the end of a few weeks. Just by applying conscientiousness about your own bad thoughts and stopping them in their tracks, you'll see the frequency of the thoughts decline.

2. Have fun.

Everyone has something that they enjoy doing. Indulge in this in a regular basis. Allow yourself the freedom to be happy. When you're involved in something that brings you joy, it's hard to feel down as there's no reason for you to feel inadequate or self-defeating. It doesn't matter what the activity is, so long as it allows you to feel relaxed and at peace.

3. Dump the toxic friends.

You know who they are. Some people in the world make it a past time to complain and be cynical, look at the glass as perpetually half empty. Maybe you engaged these people because you had things in common, but if you want to move on and put on a positive spin your self esteem, keeping these people around won't help. Focus on the people who seem happy with themselves and their lot in life. It's contagious.