4 Tips To Improve Your Self-Esteem

The way we think about ourselves affects everything we do. If you’re overly hard on yourself, you can end up feeling run down, tired, and with clothes strewn across your bedroom floor and dirty plates piling ever higher, just begging to be cleaned.

Life is hard, and it’s so easy to blame ourselves for things – but that doesn’t help anybody. I promise. Turning yourself around can be exhausting, and there will still be days where you slip up, but they won’t last forever. The first step to helping yourself feel better is to improve how you think about yourself.

Change your phone’s lock screen

This one sounds weird, I know. Hear me out though.

We spend hours looking at our phones every single day. Glancing at the time, checking if there are any new notifications, etc. What’s the first thing you always see? Your lock screen. 

What I want you to do is write a paragraph about yourself. Imagine you’re in a film and someone’s giving you a pep talk. They’re complementing those features that you don’t like, telling you that you’re strong, smart, funny, beautiful. That they love the ways your eyes twinkle in the starlight. Write it all up. Be kinder to yourself than you’ve ever been before. Even if you don’t quite believe it. 

Done? Good. 

Now screenshot it, and set that as your lock screen background. You’ll be looking at those positive words, reinforcing them day in, day out. It doesn’t even matter if you read it all or not, you wrote them so you know what they say. 

You won’t believe the words at first. I didn’t. Eventually though, they’ll become more real to you. It might take a week, a month, or a year. It will happen, and the way you think of yourself will be so much better than before.

 Develop a night-time routine

We all need to set ourselves up properly before we hit the hay, it helps us fall asleep faster and sleep much better. So how should you do it? 

Start by using an exfoliating rub, rinsing off, and then applying a night mask. One I’ve found works quite well is the Cloud 9 Sleep Mask. It really helps to keep skin soft and full of vitamins. Perfect after a long day at work, or out and about.

Make sure your phone is silent on the other side of the room (don’t want to be scrolling all night). That way, it’s less likely to disturb your sleep too.

If you do have problems nodding off, then I’ve got to suggest using lavender. It works a treat. You can either have some sprigs bundled in your bed, or maybe drip some essential oils on your pillow. Do whatever is easiest for you. You should drift off in no time.

Come off social media

All across Facebook and Instagram, there are countless posts and pictures of how perfectly everyone else is doing. It’s a lie. On the surface, social media is a great tool to help you connect with your friends and update people on your life and the things you care about. 

In reality, it’s a toxic environment that specialises in creating insecurities and damaging self-esteem. There are so many images that have been posed, shot, reshot, edited, and filtered before they even get considered for upload.

So when you’re seeing a friend of yours looking like a model on a beautiful beach, and you suddenly feel like you’re not achieving enough, or living life to the fullest, remember they might not even be on that holiday anymore.

If what you see on social media makes you feel bad, stop going on it. No ifs, no buts, just stop. Delete the app for a while, and let yourself start to feel normal again.

Remove yourself from toxic situations

Just like Instagram and Facebook, if you’re surrounded by toxicity in your day to day life then get out of it. If it’s a group of friends who make snide remarks about you, or a partner who doesn’t like it when you spend time with other people. Leave. 

If it’s something worth saving, obviously talk to them first. But unless they show they’re willing to accommodate your feelings, then you’re better off without. There are plenty of good, kind people who will support you. 

Don’t settle for something less.

Look after yourselves, and please let me know down below if there’s something you do to make yourself feel better.