Know Your Self-Worth: Finding Self-Acceptance
“Your crown has been bought and paid for. Put it on your head and wear it.” – Dr. Maya Angelou
The great Maya Angelou said it best; Put your crown on your head and wear it with fierceness and head held high. Sometimes our negative thoughts can hinder us from feeling confident. We have to combat the external sources that impact low self-worth.
Self-worth is how you feel about yourself on the inside and out. It’s very important to ask yourself why you feel low and to do self-assessments to understand where all of these feelings are coming from.
So, how can we improve self-worth and find self-acceptance? Here are some tips you can try!
The first step is to educate yourself on the differences between having high self-worth and low self-worth. High self-worth is defined as feeling positive about themselves and about life. On the other hand, low self-worth is defined as people who are much more critical of themselves. They find it harder to be resilient in many situations.
The second step is to look at the positives. What I like to do is think about things I love about myself. I list 5 things I love about myself to help me remember there is good in me. I also like to practice turning my negative thoughts into positive ones. For example, I may feel like I can’t finish a task I need to complete for the house and not do it well enough so instead I turn that thought into “I can do it well enough and nothing will stop me”.
The third step is my favorite step, which was really hard to practice but at the end has helped me get to where I currently need to be. I started to put up boundaries with people. I will bend over backwards for people and not get the same in return. I learned that when I say no and put up boundaries it helped me with my self-worth. I’m worth more than someone being treated with no respect.
These three steps can help guide you to find your self-worth and self-acceptance. Remember to learn the difference between having a high self-worth and a low self-worth. Look at the bright side of things by changing your negative thoughts into positive ones. And lastly, but very much still important, set boundaries, learn how to say no when it’s necessary, and feel more comfortable with who you are.
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Staff Blogger: Golda Duncan
Golda Duncan is a Peer Services Educator at MHA. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a passion for the mental health community and wants to make a change.