In life, there are moments when even the most confident people lose sight of their self-worth. If you’re not careful, you may find yourself falling into bad relationships, neglecting your health, or failing to look out for yourself when you feel like that’s all the care you deserve.
If you’re sinking into this rut, here are some tips for boosting your self-worth so you can get back on your feet:
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1. Take Some Time off for You
In our current workaholic society, many of us underestimate the value of a mental health day. Even if you’re worried about letting your teachers or employers down, don’t feel guilty about taking a day off to focus on you.
Use this time to work through any unresolved feelings or to do something out of the ordinary. You’ll thank yourself later for this chance to remind yourself who you are and what you value in life.
2. Get Dressed
Even if you choose to spend your day at home, make sure to get up off your bed and get dressed.
Similar to the benefits of making your bed every morning, dressing better not only affects your mood, but it also mentally gets you in a place where you’re prepared to go out and seize the day.
Keeping up your appearance also sends a subtle signal to yourself that you’re worth taking care of.
3. Pamper Yourself
Even if you’re price conscious, a great way to boost your self-worth is to treat yourself to a luxury you normally wouldn’t splurge on.
If you’re having trouble deciding what to do, indulging in a spa day, getting a massage, or some good old retail therapy are all excellent ways to pamper yourself.
While you may think that gifting yourself with such opulence is a waste of money, remember that this is a once in a while thing and that you’re worth spending money on.
Self-care is important, and people who value themselves understand that it’s well worth the money.
4. Take Something off the Backburner
We all have a list of things that we wish we could have done, but never got around to doing.
Unfortunately, if we let these tasks sit for too long, we risk feeling down on ourselves—like we don’t have the ability or control needed to get what we want done.
One way to boost your self-worth is to take something off this backburner list and go ahead and do it.
Once you start checking items off your list, you’ll feel a strong sense of fulfillment and accomplishment that will elevate your self-worth.
5. Invest in Friendships
If you’re finding it difficult to convince yourself that you’re a worthwhile person, invest in your friendships.
Meet up with friends you haven’t seen in a while, and when you do, put away your devices. This will help you re-establish genuine human connections that will stave off any feelings of loneliness you may have, as well as positively affect your health and wellness.
While you shouldn’t derive all your self-worth from others, developing your friendships is a wonderful opportunity for uncovering what others value in you.
Your friends think the world of you, so discovering these positive characteristics of yourself through them is a great wake up call for learning that you’re someone worth loving again.
6. Unplug From Social Media
One of the easiest way to sink into a depressive cycle of self-doubt is to continuously compare yourself to others on social media. Remember, a person’s social media activity is his or her highlight reel—a carefully curated version of him or herself that that person is allowing the world to see.
Therefore, using social media to judge your quality of life is both misleading and unproductive.
Instead, unplug and enjoy life without the added pressure of having to measure up someone else. You’ll be able to better appreciate what you’ve achieved and have a healthier measure of your self-worth afterward.
7. Be Kind to Yourself
While it’s good to hold yourself to a high standard, there’s nothing wrong with cutting yourself some slack every once and awhile.
No one is perfect all the time. If you make a mistake, be kind to yourself and forgive yourself, instead of berating yourself over and over.
Similarly, in your daily life, it’s important to separate things that are in your control from those that are entirely out of it.
Once you recognize how much you’re agonizing over things that you have no business agonizing over, the easing of pressure on yourself will make you feel much more empowered in your daily life.
Give Your Self-Worth a Boost
Sometimes, having a healthy dose of self-esteem isn’t enough. To feel secure in your skin, you’ll need to find ways to periodically boost your self-worth so that you can begin believing in yourself again.
Once you restore that belief, you can go back to being the driver of your own destiny.
