The big difference between self-esteem and self-confidence

Self-esteem and self-confidence are two important parts of a healthy personality. They both impact how we feel about ourselves and our ability to deal with challenges in life.

But you may be wondering what the difference is between self-esteem and self-confidence and how they affect your life.

Having strong self-esteem and self-confidence helps us manage stress, maintain positive relationships, and achieve personal goals.

Self-esteem is your opinion of yourself. It’s the measure of how much you like yourself or how much you value yourself as a person.

Self-confidence, on the other hand, is how sure you are about your abilities, skills, and judgments in different situations.

If you have high self-confidence, you believe that you are capable of achieving your goals and trusting your instincts rather than doubting yourself all the time.

Self-esteem and self-confidence are closely interlinked but are different.

What is Self-Esteem?

Self-esteem is the way you feel about your strengths and weaknesses, your hopes and fears, and your place in the world.

Self-esteem is how you judge and value yourself as a person.

Self-esteem has a lot to do with how you were treated as a child. If you have low self-esteem you may have grown up in a household where you had no voice and your desires and aspirations were not taken seriously.

Your parents may have been preoccupied and you felt emotionally abandoned and not good enough. This will ultimately influence what you do as an adult, how you will allow other people to treat you, and how you respond to challenges.

Having strong self-esteem means knowing who you are and feeling good about yourself.

No one is perfect, but when you look at yourself as a whole you are able to see your worth and place in the world.

The importance of self-esteem

With low self-esteem managing stress and reaching your goals will be more difficult. Your response to challenges may be negative because you feel that you can’t or are unable to do better.

Alternatively, if you have high self-esteem, you will feel good about yourself and your worth, and you will be able to trust your instincts and feel that you are able to offer value to yourself, others and life.

You will also have an easier time making decisions and reaching your goals.

With strong self-esteem, you will have a more positive outlook on life and this in turn will attract positive experiences – positive just seems to attract positive.

How to Build Self-Esteem?

Building strong self-esteem takes time and effort, but it’s really worth the effort.

How to boost your self-esteem

• Recognize Your Strengths – Start by looking at the positive things about yourself. Think about your skills, abilities, traits, and experiences.
• What do you do well?
• What are you good at and what do you enjoy doing?
• What are you proud of?
• Practice These Strengths – Once you’ve identified your strengths and skills, start practicing them more often.
• Put your strengths to use and build on them as often as you can.
• Accept Your Weaknesses – Everyone has weaknesses and flaws. No one is perfect. It’s important to accept your flaws and weaknesses as well as your strengths.
• You can always work on building up these weaker areas but don’t feel like you need to hide them or ignore them.
• Focus on the Big Picture – It’s easy to get caught up in the little things and be bogged down by what you consider your weaknesses. Focus on the big picture.
• What are you proud of?
• Are you happy with the person you see when you look in the mirror?
• If not what changes would you like to make?

What is Self-Confidence?

Self-confidence is how sure you are about your abilities, skills, and judgments in different situations.

You will have a sense of pride in your own abilities whilst at the same time being aware of your weaknesses.

Self-confidence will impact how you deal with your life, your relationships, and the challenges that come your way.

Self-confidence will help you to stand up again when you have been knocked down by one of life’s curve balls.

The importance of self-confidence

Strong self-confidence helps you feel better about yourself, your decisions, and the path you’re on in life.

It can also help you reach your goals with less stress. Having strong self-confidence allows you to easily approach people and make the most of opportunities that present themselves.

Doors seem to open for people who have self-confidence because they are able to take the first step without doubting themselves.

With self-confidence, you will believe that you have a sense of control over your life.

Research has shown that people with self-confidence are more successful.

Alternatively having poor self-confidence can make you feel unsure about yourself and your abilities. You will doubt your decisions and feel nervous in certain situations.

When you have low self-confidence, reaching your goals can be stressful and you may be filled with anxiety and overthink situations.

Making choices and decisions will be difficult if you feel unsure and second-guess yourself.

How to Build Self-Confidence?

You can build your self-confidence by recognizing your strengths and accepting your weaknesses.

How to Boost your Self-Confidence

• Don’t Compare yourself to others – You are unique, with an objective eye you will see that we all have different strengths and weaknesses. Avoid comparing yourself with others on social media. Understand that people only post about their best moments and fail to mention all the hardships that they may be going through.
• Life is not a competition.
• Remind yourself to be grateful for what you have.
• Be proud of who you are.
• Choose the people you spend time with wisely – surround yourself with people that love and support you. The people in your close circle need to uplift you and not make you feel bad about yourself.
• Self-Care – if you are taking care of yourself with a good diet, and exercise plan and you are getting enough sleep you will naturally be feeling good and healthy. Feeling healthy naturally boosts your self-confidence.
• Learn Positive Self Talk – when you are starting to doubt yourself, and the negative voices in your head start ruminating about problems, stop and reassess the situation. Learn to find the silver lining and learn positive self-talk. Rephrase the voices in your head and you will boost your self-confidence and find solutions.
• Overcome Fears – You don’t need to wait for perfection. Rather start today and work consistently at improving something rather than doubting yourself because you feel people will judge you based on your idea of not being perfect. No one is perfect. Learn to take action now.
• In your day start with the things that you dread the most. This will teach you to just start and this will day by day build your confidence.
• Do things that you are good at – when you are doing things that you are naturally good at your self-confidence will naturally grow from strength to strength.

Conclusion

Self-esteem and self-confidence will make a huge difference in your life. You will feel better about yourself and your abilities and it will be easier for you to reach your goals. You will be happier and healthier.

So start the journey, of reframing your self-esteem and self-confidence.