When you look in the mirror and you have thoughts like, I’m not good enough? Why am I like this? What’s wrong with me? I hate me? It could be that you have low self-esteem and do not feel worthy.

Low self-esteem comes from how we view ourselves, our value for ourselves. This can be influenced from life events whether now or from childhood.

Once we have this opinion of ourselves it is different to change. You may feel unhappy and find it difficult to cope. The negative impact on your self-esteem can in time affect your mental health. Having mental health issues can also lead to low self-esteem.

Low self-esteem can also make it a challenge to be social with others, this can lead to isolation. Mentally when we isolate ourselves it makes us feel worse within ourselves. To cope with this, unhelpful habits and behaviours will be taken on for a way of coping. This could be taking drugs, consuming a lot of alcohol or overeating etc.

Being criticized in childhood can lead to you forming an opinion that you’re ‘not good enough’. Also, if you were bullied, this will have an impact. Most commonly it is in your early years that you have low self-esteem installed into your mind. At this stage of life we are figuring out who we are as a person and still learning about ourselves as individuals.

Once we have unpicked the reasoning of your low self-esteem you will then gain a better understanding which will help you to start to build your confidence up.

I would work with you to find out who you are as a person, to find all your qualities and explore where your low self-esteem/self-worth comes from. It is only then that we can make changes in the mindset and perception of yourself.