Self Esteem

I read an article about a high school graduating student who was ask what problems she felt were facing young adults today, and she answered that she believes the key issue is the personal battle of SELF ESTEEM.

" Esteem" ( a favorable opinion or judgement or respect). So that means young people coming out of high school do not have a favorable opinion of themselves, Why ?

I do not think this happened " overnight ", I think it is the environment we live in today and the way they were raised.

In my opinion, to change the environment we have to do it one person at a time.

I don't remember ever having a problem with low self esteem and I believe it is because my mother taught me from a little girl that I am as "good" as anyone BUT not "better" than anyone. I might have a talent for one thing but I can't do what another person can do.

For example is a doctor better than a farmer ? I don't think so because the doctor my be able to save your life in some cases, but if the farmer did not grow food for you to eat you would die. So one is as important as the other.

I believe we need to instill in our children the belief that they can do
 " anything" if they want to badly enough and work to accomplish whatever it is they want to do.

I often tell the true story of when I was a little girl about 9 years old I became very sick, doctors did not have all the knowledge they do now so it took several doctors some time before they diagnosed my problem.

By the time they decided that I had Rheumatic Fever, the rheumatism in my knees was so bad I could not stand and had lost so much weight I almost looked like a skeleton. When they admitted me into the hospital
( which turned out to be a years stay), I overheard the doctor tell my mother they were not sure they could save me, and if they did I would probably never walk again. I remember thinking to myself " Oh yes I will walk again".

After a years stay in the hospital I was transferred to a Convalescent Home for about six months. It was there that I thought I might be strong  enough to make myself walk again.
I would sit up on the side of my bed at night after everyone else was asleep. Eventually I would just stand beside the bed, then gradually I would take one step at a time, holding onto the bed until I could finally walk. It took what seemed like a long time of doing this every night but I finally was able to let go of the bed and walk on my own.

You can imagine the amazement when I showed the doctors, nurses and my mother that I could walk, it was like a miracle to them. But I will always  believe, along with the good medical care I got , it was me believing I could do it and the hard work I put into it.

From then on I have believed that  a person can do anything if they set a goal and work hard toward it

I don't like arrogance and I think there is a thin line between arrogance and self confidence. It is self confidence that we want to give our children.


Once again, I think we should start teaching them when they are very small. Ask them something they would like to do and if they don't know how to do it, show them, but don't do it for them, let them do it themselves and once they learn they could do that then let them try something else.
This will teach them self confidence and with self confidence comes self esteem.

Let's start NOW and help build self esteem in our young ones.