Do you need a lesson in how to build self-worth? Maybe you are having trouble believing in yourself like you used to.
There comes a time in many people’s lives where they get knocked down. Straight on their face.
It’s the time when reality hits you hard, and you’re left sitting there wondering how to push through life. Or even what the point of it all is.
Let's dig into some ways you can build self-worth and start believing in yourself again.
How to Build Self-Worth & Start Believing in Yourself Again
Table of Contents
While you’re pondering the meaning of life, you also begin to hear your inner voice
tear you down.
Saying things like “You’re not good enough.” “You’ll never amount to much.” And when you start to listen to this little voice, it becomes bigger. Louder. And eventually takes over your entire state of mind.
Your self-worth diminishes and is replaced with confusion, lack of confidence, and feeling unsure about every decision you’re making in your life. I’ve been there…. Multiple times.
Any time I’ve quit a job or didn’t have enough money to pay next month’s rent, or when I was in a toxic relationship. My self-worth shrunk to the size of a peanut. And it was really hard to believe in myself enough to know that I could pull out of it.
When you become stuck in the mindset that you don’t matter a whole lot and you don’t have many reasons to believe in yourself, you can easily start to lose sight of the whole reason for your existence.
- This is when people get uncomfortable. Once they lose sight of who they are, they resort to unhealthy coping strategies to help them feel more alive.
Because what’s happening is, the light inside of you is starting to go out. You don’t feel the energy to go after your goals, and you don’t even know what goals you’d want to achieve.
The tricky part is pulling yourself out of this mind trap that you’re in. We all like to play the victim from time to time and just believe it’s everybody else’s fault for making us feel this way.
Not taking responsibility for your life or actions is the first sign of low self-worth.
Fortunately, there are ways to overcome this. You can have more energy, relight the spark inside of you, and feel motivated enough to go after anything you want in life.
1. Figure out Where your Self-Doubt Thoughts are Coming From
What you want to start doing is finding the root of your negative thoughts. Where is that voice coming from inside of you?
You can do this by first listening when that voice speaks up. What is it saying to you?
Sometimes it’s hard to hear it, because you’ve gotten so used to believing in it. When it’s telling you something mean about yourself, you might not even think it’s being mean.
But, if it makes you feel worse later on in the day and you can remember why, write
it down. Identify what your negative thoughts are saying so you can begin to quiet those voices.
2. Build up Your Strengths
One of the main reasons people have low self-worth is because they see all of the stuff they aren’t good enough for.
That job, that relationship, that lifestyle. When you see the destination of where you want to be but have no clue how to get there, it becomes overwhelming and feels impossible.
What you can start doing is build up your strengths. Think about what things you’re really good at. This can be with any category of your life.
Some examples are:
- I’m a good listener
- I put a lot of effort and hard work into my job
- I’m really good at (fill in the blank)
- People have told me I do this really well
- Give your inner critic a break for a while and listen to the good parts about yourself. This will help you feel a little better and put you on the path to self-worth and self-trust.
- I enjoy learning new skills
3. Practice Self-Compassion
Do you love yourself? Like, honestly. As you’re reading this can you say out loud “I love myself”? Is there hesitance towards answering this question?
If there is, why do you feel hesitant? Do you feel that maybe if you lost 15 pounds you would love yourself? Or if you achieved something in your life, you’d be worthier of love?
This is a mind trap we all fall into from time to time. It’s not always easy to love ourselves through thick and thin. There are even times when I don’t always love what I see in the mirror.
But, practicing self-compassion can give you a huge boost in your own confidence and self-worth.
Self-compassion allows you to forgive yourself more easily. You won’t feel so stressed all the time because you have your own back.
Download my FREE self-love guide to help you with this.
4. Work on Facing Your Fears
Being fearful of trying new things and going after what you want has a big effect on your self-worth.
If you feel too afraid to try things, it’s reaffirming to your inner critic that you aren’t good enough to go after those things. And when you don’t try, you never truly know what the outcome will bring.
When you work on facing your fears, you develop trust within yourself. Even if you end up falling flat on your face.
Doing something that scares you daily will help build up your self-worth because you will see that you made it through. And when you start facing your fears you start going after the amazing things you want in life. You start achieving things because you stopped being too afraid to even try.
- Once you start facing your fears, you become more used to it. Fewer things scare you and the more things start to excite you.
5. Set a Challenge for Yourself
You can start small by setting a simple challenge for yourself. Maybe by the end of this month you can do one thing that scares you.
Decide on one thing today that will help build your self-worth. This is a personal preference as to what makes you feel better.
6. Cut Down on the Self-Criticism
Any time you start beating yourself up and feeling bad about your life, catch that inner critic. This starts with accepting yourself and being ok with who you are. There is no growth without first accepting yourself.
The first step to self-acceptance is reducing the negative self-talk you’ve been feeding your mind Stop being so hard on yourself when you’re honestly just doing the best that you can.
People who love themselves learn how to forgive their mistakes and move on from the past. They understand that they are only human and can only be expected to do so much.
At the same time, they work on self-improvement and enjoy pushing their limits to see how far they can get in life.
7. Visualize Who and Where You Want to Be
Do you want to hate yourself and feel a lack of confidence forever? Or do you want to start living a better life that includes you being happier and more at peace?
Then start by writing down what your life would look like if you had no limits. Seriously, write down every dream and thought you have that would be amazing to have in your own life.
It doesn’t matter if it “feels” selfish or like a dream way too far out of reach. The point of this exercise is to envision a life that you actually want. Without the limitations, you’re already constantly setting on a daily basis.
Visualizing where you want to be in the future opens up more room for inspiration in your life. This is where you feel creative and even excited to focus on the things you want.
Wipe the dust off your imagination for five minutes and do a brain dump. Write down all of the things you truly want out of life, no matter how far out of reach they may seem.
Once you do that, then write down how you’re feeling afterward. Does it excite you? Scare you? Overwhelm you?
Tune into your current emotions and let them feel free to bounce around for a while. Let go and dream and allow yourself to feel however it is you’re feeling.
8. Reward Your Successes
Deciding to make any sort of change in your life requires time and patience. You have to train your brain to let go of one way of thinking and make room for the new thoughts.
To make this more enjoyable for you, set up a reward system. Each time you work towards your goals come up with something that you enjoy.
Maybe that’s taking the evening off and relaxing. Or cooking up your favorite dinner. Maybe it’s treating yourself to something new.
Whatever makes you feel good, excited, and inspired. That way you can keep moving forward with your progress.
For More Tips On How To Build Self-Worth And Confidence:
Watch this video lesson on how to build self-worth, below. This is a preview from my wellness course Refine Your Life Purpose + Wellness.
To see the full video, and all other lessons, click here.
I love this list. But I want to add that having a solid support system is also important. When we cannot get thru certain tasks it is always, without a doubt, more beneficial to have a solid support system in tact to carry you. Then when you are strong enough to go forward on your own again its with the knowledge that you are not working alone or trying to undo your backwards footing. When we want to give up or have extreme apprehension that can hinder us it is wise to ask for help and honestly it takes a strong person to allow themselves to appear weak and in need of help.
Hi… This is a great post. I hated anything to do with self-love until I ‘needed’ it! Rural Grey Star was started to give me an out-of-the-box challenge, and it’s truly helped to keep me on track. Your blog is lovely.
Terrific post! I truly believe a lot of people would benefit from applying even a just a few of these tips into their lives! Solid. Keep up the great content!