Self-Worth
Self-worth is one of the most important things to maintain to live a healthy life. Having a very low self-worth is by and large one of the most accurate and dangerous predictors of depression and suicide. This is because both consciously and unconsciously, our perception of ourselves affects pretty much everything in our lives. Taking a test and believe you will fail? You will do much worse. Unprepared for a athletic meet but know that you are capable and will try your hardest? You may do better than you expected.
If someone you know is feeling a sense of low self-worth, the first and most obvious thing to do would be to remind them of how worthy they are to you and to others. They will most likely not believe you, and will instead list some of the things which make them feel worthless: test scores, an insulting bully, home issues, etc. Everyone has their own things which make them feel worthless from time to time. Unfortunately, these are usually very tough or impossible to remove. Therefore, the solution is to instead address the response to these triggers: the feelings of unworthiness. The best thing to do would be understanding. Below is a sample dialogue which could be used when someone's feelings of unworthiness are damaging his/her daily lives:
"I know you are feeling like you are unworthy because of ___. It makes me sad to see you degrading yourself like this. We both know you can't really change your world. But what you could change is how you feel - at the end of the day, these feelings of unworthiness are coming from yourself. If you keep on feeling like you don't mean anything, then your situation won't improve. But whenever you feel unworthy, if you thought of your strengths, then maybe you'll be motivated to keep working harder and you can keep achieving."
In the end, the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is true. While our feelings of self-worth are greatly impacted by others, at the end of the day they come from ourselves. If we wake up in the morning confident about ourselves, others' perceptions of ourselves will change as well, further improving our confidence. This positive feedback loop is essential to gaining maturity as a teenager and transitioning into a healthy, happy adulthood.
Self-worth is one of the most important things to maintain to live a healthy life. Having a very low self-worth is by and large one of the most accurate and dangerous predictors of depression and suicide. This is because both consciously and unconsciously, our perception of ourselves affects pretty much everything in our lives. Taking a test and believe you will fail? You will do much worse. Unprepared for a athletic meet but know that you are capable and will try your hardest? You may do better than you expected.
If someone you know is feeling a sense of low self-worth, the first and most obvious thing to do would be to remind them of how worthy they are to you and to others. They will most likely not believe you, and will instead list some of the things which make them feel worthless: test scores, an insulting bully, home issues, etc. Everyone has their own things which make them feel worthless from time to time. Unfortunately, these are usually very tough or impossible to remove. Therefore, the solution is to instead address the response to these triggers: the feelings of unworthiness. The best thing to do would be understanding. Below is a sample dialogue which could be used when someone's feelings of unworthiness are damaging his/her daily lives:
"I know you are feeling like you are unworthy because of ___. It makes me sad to see you degrading yourself like this. We both know you can't really change your world. But what you could change is how you feel - at the end of the day, these feelings of unworthiness are coming from yourself. If you keep on feeling like you don't mean anything, then your situation won't improve. But whenever you feel unworthy, if you thought of your strengths, then maybe you'll be motivated to keep working harder and you can keep achieving."
In the end, the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is true. While our feelings of self-worth are greatly impacted by others, at the end of the day they come from ourselves. If we wake up in the morning confident about ourselves, others' perceptions of ourselves will change as well, further improving our confidence. This positive feedback loop is essential to gaining maturity as a teenager and transitioning into a healthy, happy adulthood.