Learn to value yourself !

What we think of ourselves and how much we respect our inner self determines the level of our successes and failures to a great extent. In times of success and happiness, we tend to appreciate our hard work and take applause generously. However, times of failure and struggle test our self-esteem, since we criticize ourselves to the extreme. We need to understand that by putting ourselves down during the hard times, we make the situation even worse.

The possibility of solving your problem becomes bleak when you lose faith in yourself. It is like failing a particular exam and then declaring that you will never pass any exam again. It just doesn’t make any sense. Just because you have failed at one thing certainly doesn’t mean that all doors of success are going to close. Rather, now you know where you went wrong and can learn from your mistakes.

By not repeating the same mistake, you have a pretty good chance of excelling in that situation the next time you try it. Great people are great because they know what they are worth, and they are aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They transform these weaknesses to strengths rather than using them as an excuse for failure.

Even though people with low self-esteem hide their insecurities in different ways, the following are a few of the most common characteristics. If you have some of them, you know what to do! They include (but are not limited to):

• A very critical nature
• A big ego
• Feelings of boredom and discomfort when alone
• A tendency to make promises but not keep them
• A habit of coming up with excuses for their responsibilities
• Attention-seeking behavior
• Always trying to keep other people down

I would finally like to share a beautiful story that I heard recently. A man went to a large gathering and he showed everyone $1,000 and asked aloud who wanted the money. As expected, everyone raised their hand. He said only one person could get the money, and then he crumpled up the bills. Then, he asked if people still wanted the $1,000 and the same number of people raised their hands again. Finally, he threw the $1,000 on the ground and grinded them with his shoe. After picking up all the crumpled and dirty bills, he asked if people were still interested. Well, people still had their hands up.

Then he said, “My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $1,000. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and grounded into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.”

You are like that $1,000, but much more valuable. Never forget that you are a very special human being. Don’t fill your eyes with tears after failure, because then you might miss a great opportunity going by!