My self-esteem usually resides in the toilet. Yes, it's pretty bad. It seems that each time I set out to do things to improve it, disaster strikes. I know that your self-esteem should be based on who you ARE, not what you DO.

However, I find it difficult to feel good about myself when I am so far out of step with the rest of the world. I don't mind being different, but being different in this way is undesirable.

How is your SE and how do/have you improve(d) it?

Sorry, Overload my self esteem is pretty much downhill right now. Having a hard time but wanted to reply to your post. I think therapy would help, I am in the process of looking. Let me know how things go. auntchris

So lately, I feel better; but it is so hard when I keep repeating mistakes such as not looking at the list of things to do; not writing things down; losing everything, missing deadlines.


So, I don't think about the number of things that have been screwed up -- except the current ones and I focus on what can I change to remind me to use systems I have put in place so these things don't happen. I don't think about the fact that once again, some time soon, I will forget to use the systems and things will go wrong; I just go a day at a time moving in a better direction .. trying not to make the same errors.

Thearapy helps; not letting myself get upset by people around me who would spend a long time working on blame and getting me to blame myself ...

It is miserable to be at the bottom of the self esteem heap; I really hope it gets better for you.

I have no self esteem whatsoever. Most people seem to feel at least decently about themselves on any given day. For me that's a rare thing. I don't have good days; just the occasional good hours. I wonder about going to therapy but then I think, "Why should I pay someone to ask me how I feel and why?" I can vent anywhere, and I wonder if going to a therapist is more about venting and the therapist asking me "What do YOU think?" "Why do you think that way?" I know life has its ups and downs but when I am feeling pretty good it doesn't take much to shoot me down. Like if someone says good morning to someone standing right next to me, but ignores me altogether. That kind of stuff happens all the time. How are we suppose to keep our heads raised then?

My selfesteem, could not have been better these last few years. I wish you all the best luck to regain it.

right now I have no self esteem . Its like what praire said ya have on good hour and then it shifts. I have no idea how feel better about myself...I would have liked to know when I was in my 20's. Is this my fault? Where did this self image of me come from? Why do I act different around other people and put on the mask ? I have wondered about these question and would like to know why are all the problems dumped on me in my family ...I was born with Epilepsy, later Borderline personality disorder, ADHD, and self injury what is next.? MY sister sure did escape all these disorders and I am the older one so I guess I am the guiena pig in my family.... auntchris

right now I have no self esteem . Its like what praire said ya have on good hour and then it shifts. I have no idea how feel better about myself...I would have liked to know when I was in my 20's. Is this my fault? Where did this self image of me come from? Why do I act different around other people and put on the mask ? I have wondered about these question and would like to know why are all the problems dumped on me in my family ...I was born with Epilepsy, later Borderline personality disorder, ADHD, and self injury what is next.? MY sister sure did escape all these disorders and I am the older one so I guess I am the guiena pig in my family.... auntchris

Is this my fault?
Where did this self image of me come from?
Why do I act different around other people and put on the mask ?

I can only give you my personal advice, and i am no doctor ect.
But i dont think it is important right now to have the answers to those questions. Maybe you will learn why one day to all these answers. But i think you should start with HOW YOU WANT to feel right now. Because it is a choice, no one will do it for you. YOU have to do it for you.

My self esteem sucks

I have my days were my self esteem is low but I'm a positive person and don't focus on the negative for very long so usually my self esteem is very high. I think a lot of it comes with age and experiance I've seen a lot of things in my life and have survived a lot of things and someone trying to put me down is used only as ammunition to make me try harder to prove them wrong. When I look in the mirror I don't see a middle aged, frumpy housewife...I see someone I'm proud to be and most times I don't even see myself but something I cannot describe it's inner I just don't know how to describe it. I think people focus on their past mistakes and future mistakes far too much...your human your going to screw up and as long as no one else gets hurt let it go forgive yourself and try harder.

my self-esteem is pretty good, and gets better with every challenge i face head on and complete successfully.

just recently, i, who always thought i would die if i had to speak in front of a group of people, taught a new-hire class to 25 strangers....the earth did not open up and swallow me.

i did quite well and was not nervous at all.....hmmm. surprising how that works.

the other side of that coin is, as sure as i can be of something, if someone says "are you sure?" just that fast i am unsure of the thing i was 100% sure of. and that is self-esteem, too.

i would say, challenge yourself in small ways every day, and that will build your self-esteem. and if you slip on some days, remember, rome wasn't built in a day, and we're all human and have set backs.

good luck! :)

I don't know how to even answer that... if you mean 'do I feel bad about myself, about decisions that I make personally, or how much depression I deal with daily' than I'd have to answer 'My self esteem is beyond 0 most days'. I am able to function properly, and exude pretentious self confidence and tenacity which leads most to believe I've got it together, and I'm not ever to the point of being suicidal, and I never think 'I can't do that'... if anything, I CAN do anything anyone can do out of sheer rebelliousness and self competition. I just have this 'inner voice' that drives me nuts that makes me think of perceived/past failures which won't allow me to have inner peace if I'm alone. What's worse is that I choose to be alone so I can think of them, when I have options to go out and play, sometimes.
For all that AD/HD is dubbed as being 'obnoxious', I believe we are the most sensitive humans on the planet, as far as trying to accomodate others needs, and I think that not getting credit for that is our biggest demise.
Once in a while, there's not enough dosage of my meds to stop me from saying to someone 'You are a total selfish, ignorant a==ho==, and I've had enough of your crapola', and for some reason... that seems to work wonders to my self esteem... not to mention it makes them think about their behavior for a change as opposed to mine..
Nova

Self esteem comes and goes.

Sometimes it is an ironclad, unassailable fortress... and sometimes it is the lover missing from my bed, leaving me alone in the darkness.

My self esteem was really bad when I was a child in grade school. They even put me in classes to improve it and that sorta thing. Over the past couple of years it has gotten much better. I just got a major promotion at work, so I am feeling pretty good right now.

My self esteem was really bad when I was a child in grade school. They even put me in classes to improve it and that sorta thing. Over the past couple of years it has gotten much better. I just got a major promotion at work, so I am feeling pretty good right now.
Way cool CAsper....i am very happy for you

Enjoy it my dear :D

My self esteem is sometimes low when I realize I forgot something. But nowadays the best thing I can do is announce what I am great at and what I am not so great at and not beat myself over it.

My current self esteem is average. It of course would be better if it was great, but if I fool myself and say "it's awesome" then I would not feel I deserve to feel better. :)

SO if you feel your self esteem is low, work on improving your self image as you deserve it.

Quite frankly none of us deserve a low self esteem.

My self esteem generally stays pretty low, however since I am always aware of that my outward appearance usually does not show it. I have just started on meds and counseling/therapy which so far seems to have helped a little. Seems that both at work and at home I can never do anything right or good enough no matter how hard I try. At my work lately i've been up for promotion several times but have not achieved it; been told basically I was "second choice" and told to reapply the next time, but of course the next time i was then told that because of tardiness I was unable to be promoted even though i was otherwise more than qualified.
But anyway, then there are other factors such as when I try talking with anyone about anything more than small talk I'll begin to ramble in my speech and not be able to think of what I'm talking about and then become self aware of this and begin to feel like I look like an idiot or something.
But like I said i have just recently started on meds and so far I have had two sessions in therapy which has given me different ways to help improve my self image which will hopefully improve self esteem and help with depression.

Inside I have low self esteem but I am a pro at hiding it. I wish I was confident because it would make me less anxious about things.

You know I started having thoughts take off in so many different ways about this thread as I got to the bottom, I was like :confused: ............I went and looked up the definition to be sure, In the way of self-respect, I am good with this, I know who I am, and I am not sure quiet where I'm going at the moment, but respect for one's self can mean so many different things to us. It's like I am not pleased with the fact that I have such a great talent in my art, and I can't seem to get it together, It's very hard to make myself do something like draw or paint, because it just has to flow out of me without any thought about it really. But I respect this, and I don't feel like a failure about it, because I know it will come out when it's ready, Sometimes I just grab the sketch pad and start scribbleing and they start to turn into something, sometimes not... I will either go with it or not, but I try not to let it bother me, if I am not getting somewhere, I figure everything happens for a reason and when I find myself getting discouraged, I just think back on that and remember I know that the talent is there and if it can't flow out of me comfortably and without force, then it can lay dormet for a while and go to something else. As far as Pride in myself, I am not exactly proud of some of the way I've handled some things in the past, but I am proud of the fact I handled them myself, I never ran, and I never expected anyone else to get me out of anything, If I got there on my own blah blah... These days I at least know why I did some of them things, so I can feel pride in the fact of getting to the bottom of it. I have been trying to figure out why, and tried to pay attention to the rules of the game, and now I am on my way to doing things that I can really be proud of.