Issues with low self-esteem can come upon people at different stages of life. The life stage where low self-esteem issues typically start is during a person’s teenage years. Low self-esteem in teenage years is common because at this age the young person relies so much on approval by peers in order for their own self-confidence level to rise to a higher level. New moms have issues with low self-esteem because they just don’t know what to expect having never been through this experience of having and nurturing a baby. New moms many times wonder if they are doing it right or if they are right for the job of being a mother.
But you don’t want to tag a person with low self-esteem if they are only having a temporary down period (which we all have). So learn to determine just what exactly the symptoms of low self-esteem are. Here are a few:
- People with low self-esteem cannot live in the present. They spend too much time in worry about the things to come or in regrets about the things they did not do or failed at. They just cannot enjoy today.
- People with low self-esteem many times stay busy to hide or bury the imaginary tapes playing in their head revealing their perceived inadequacies.
- Those with low self-esteem have to be perfect. They have a hard time dealing with the reality that they are not perfect. They cannot handle criticism even if that criticism is constructive. These are also the ones we all know as “yes people” because they will try to please everyone and never say “no.”
- People with low self-esteem are ever-seeking a level of happiness they desire. Yet, they are never happy. And because they are never happy, they are always out trying to find that happiness in some new thing or relationship be it a car, spouse, home, family, career, or church. And when they replace those, they are still not happy.
- Because people with low self-esteem have such a poor opinion of themselves, they will never attempt to do new things. They won’t go on the scary rides with their kids, they won’t ask a person for a date, and they won’t assert themselves at work when they deserve a raise. Their lives are dictated by fear.
- People with low self-esteem do not practice self-acceptance for who they are. They are always throwing insults inwardly and focus only on the failures and letdowns of the past. Sometimes this inability to identify with oneself shows up in constant changes in appearance or, even worse, a total neglect for one’s own personal appearance. The neglect for one’s appearance is the result of feelings of low self-worth.
- Those with low self-esteem have problems with intimacy too. The difficulty in having intimate relationships stems from the person’s difficulty in self-acceptance. The person’s fear of rejection and fear to “open up” makes it practically impossible to have any type of relationship. The person with low self-esteem will typically have relationships that are very shallow and will very rarely have close family or friends.
