If I were to summarise the world we live in today, I would describe it as very fast-paced. I say this because, in current times, competitiveness or perhaps an eagerness to achieve personal goals by certain deadlines can take priority in a lot of the life decisions we make.
Whether it is to better ourselves in education, job or career opportunities, even in developing our relationships, there seems to be a timeline that a lot of people want to attain certain goals by. This, of course, is a generalised statement and may not be the case for all, but one certainly cannot deny that a lot of the time, our actions as individuals are constantly scrutinised and compared to peers and others alike.
While there can be advantages in comparing yourself to another, especially if it motivates you to want to challenge yourself in different fields or achieve different goals, it can equally have a detrimental effect to your mental well-being and self-esteem.
What is self-esteem?
I would define this as how you appraise your own competency or abilities. I also believe that self-esteem is not necessarily fixed or constant, in the sense that life experiences can improve and both break the confidence we have or the value we place on ourselves.
It is difficult to live in a society where if you don’t meet certain goals set out by societal norms, you feel isolated, sometimes even worthless; it can have a shattering effect on your self-esteem because you essentially de-value yourself.
For example, not being able to attain the same qualifications as others, not being able to settle in a career you work well in immediately, maybe even not being able to find a partner to settle down with by a certain age. Societal norms will obviously differ depending on where you live and what is considered important in that environment, however, the point that I am trying to raise is that low-self-esteem can be debilitating, especially when you also consider those facing anxiety issues.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is all about fear- we feel anxious because something scares us, worries us or puts us in doubt. Anxiety issues often create barriers for individuals to be able to carry out a range of behaviours and actions. For some, anxiety issues can stop individuals from being able to deal with average day-to-day tasks, while for others, larger, long-term goals can seem impossible to attain.
Imagine having low-self esteem where you are already criticising yourself or devaluing your worth. If you combine that with anxiety it gets worse because the fear that anxiety creates and the barriers it places on people, it only serves to reiterate negative thoughts of not being ‘good enough.’ The combination of this can be harmful to one’s well-being because often it does not allow an individual to progress in life as they can be demotivated in trying new challenges, be assertive or confident when they are constantly clouded by this sort of negative outlook.
Help for Anxiety and Self Esteem
Anxiety and self-esteem issues can always be tackled, if you feel that you have low self-esteem and that having anxiety issues perpetuates or fuels this in you, perhaps it would be beneficial to address these issues with a professional psychologist, who will use effective talking therapies such as cognitive-behavioural therapy to help you re-evaluate the negative appraisals you hold about yourself.
As mentioned previously, I don’t consider self-esteem as a constant that is necessarily fixed; you can always learn ways to improve your self-esteem by tackling the issues such as anxiety that are causing such a low judgment on the self. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at Online Therapy Clinic an anxiety consultation appointment today.