Ideas of self-worth to celebrate your strengths

We present to you the ideas of self-worth to celebrate your strengths.

Gaining self-awareness is facilitated by understanding your strengths. You may gain a fresh respect for qualities about yourself that you previously undervalued. Understanding one’s strengths can help one better comprehend what makes one special and how one’s personality affects a team.

What words would you use to describe yourself?

Did the words you use make you feel valuable and capable? If yes, you probably have healthy self-worth. So what exactly is self-worth and let’s see what are the best ideas of self-worth to celebrate your strengths.

Self-worth is the internal sense of being good enough and worthy of love and belonging from others. Simply put, it is the sense of one’s own worth or value as a person. It determines what and how you feel about yourself in comparison to other people. It controls the way you see, think and even feel about yourself. Self-worth also influences the way you act or behave. 

A person with low self-worth would generally have a negative opinion about themselves or would evaluate themselves critically, placing a negative value on oneself as a person. They usually focus on their mistakes, criticize their own abilities, and don’t pay heed to their positive qualities or compliments given by others. They may often compare themselves to others and think about what they didn’t do or what others seem to have. This usually leads to stress and anxiety and can be a cause of depression. And this is why it is important to seek ideas of self-worth to celebrate your strengths.

According to the self-worth theory by Covington & Berry, an individual’s main goal or priority in life is to find self-acceptance or self-recognition and this is usually found through their achievements and accomplishments. This theory holds that there are four main elements that interact with each other to determine one’s level of self-worth. These four elements are: 

• Ability
• Determination
• Performance
• Self-esteem 

While this theory gives a good understanding of our self-worth, it also concludes that we place a lot of emphasis on our accomplishments and that our self worth is linked to “winning” against others. 

There are a lot of misconceptions about self-worth that could shape your mind into thinking less about yourself. This can lead to various mental health problems. You may end up measuring your self-worth not just in terms of your evaluated ability and performance, but other factors such as social status, appearance, possessions, etc. The truth is that such things are not an accurate measure of your worth. Using such factors to measure your self-worth could lead to you feeling depressed or anxious. Let’s look into some factors that do not determine your self-worth. 

Factors that do not determine your self-worth: 

Self-worth is not linked to your: 

• Job/career:  Your occupation doesn’t matter. What matters is that you do it well and that doing it gratifies and fulfills you. 
• Appearance: How you look or dress has nothing to do with self-worth. Dressing a certain way will not lower or increase your value as a human, so as long as you like and enjoy how you dress what others think doesn’t matter. 
• Age: How old or young you are does not determine your value as a human being. 
• Social media following: In this era of digitalization, we often attach our worth to the number of likes we receive or the amount of followers we have. However, it does not matter how many people think you are worthy of a follow, like or a retweet. 
• Goals: While having goals, dreams and aspirations is not a bad thing, it does not have to have a direct relationship with your worth as a person. 
• Grades: Your grades do not define you as a person. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. A Student with an F is just as worthy as a student with straight A’s. 
• Finances: Too much or too little money does not determine your worth as a person. Irrespective of your financial status you still deserve to be respected and treated with empathy. 
• Relationship status: Whether you are single, in a committed relationship or casually dating, your value is the same. 

If you take these points into consideration while measuring your self-worth you can end up hurting yourself mentally. Such thoughts can  lead to various types of mental illnesses including severe depression. 

Having high self-worth helps you accept your weaknesses while focusing on your strengths. Yes, it can be difficult to separate yourself from your achievements and aspirations. Coming to this stage of awareness can be overwhelming. Counseling and therapy can help make this process easier. At AtEase, we have professionals who can help you become more self-aware and build your self-worth. 

To be able to start the journey, it is important to know the importance of self-worth and some great ideas of self-worth to celebrate your strengths.

Importance of self-worth

Studies have shown that self-worth is linked to our mental health. In a way, healthy self-worth shields us from various types of mental illness or mental health problems. When we value ourselves, we get to be the best version of ourselves and live a better quality of life. Problem solving becomes easier, as a healthy self-worth allows us to accept the challenges and find solutions. It convinces us that no matter whom we ask for help or no matter what the outcome is, we still would have value . 

It allows us to set healthy boundaries in our relationships as we feel confident about who we are. A healthy self-worth also helps us break the patterns of unhealthy relationships without feeling that our value has reduced. It makes us more resilient to any kinds of setbacks we may experience in life. 

Apart from this, it allows us to have more realistic expectations, from ourselves and the world. No one can be perfect, and demanding perfection isn’t realistic. Having a healthy self-worth helps us to be okay with the mistakes we make, thus setting a realistic goal for ourselves. It allows us to be confident in our decisions without doubting our knowledge or ability to judge a situation. 

However, having a low self-worth can lead to mental health problems like severe depression, insomnia, stress and anxiety. It leads to a persistent feeling of hopelessness and unworthiness. People with low self-worth tend to get into unhealthy relationships and are unable to bounce back from adversity. Those who measure their self-worth with external sources are reported to be more angry, stressed and have relationship conflicts or academic problems. They are more likely to resort to alcohol and drugs to cope up with situations. Thus, having  healthy self-worth is important for one’s overall well-being. Let’s explore how  one can preserve and celebrate their self-worth. 

How can you preserve and celebrate your self-worth? Let’s dive into the ideas of self-worth to celebrate your strengths.

Listed below are some of the most worthy ideas of self-worth to celebrate your strengths.

• Challenge your inner critic: Try to stop  criticizing yourself. It is easy to give into our ‘inner voice’ that undermines our self worth. Take a look back at the list of factors that do not determine your self-worth to remind yourself that you are more than your accomplishments, appearances, financial status and so on. Whenever you find yourself being harsh on yourself, pause and take a moment, challenge your inner critic and remind yourself that no matter what you do, your worth and value will not change. 
• Practice self-compassion: To be able to challenge your inner critic, you will have to be kind to yourself. Acknowledge and notice your suffering and remember that imperfection is a part of being human and it is something we all share. 
• Increase your self-understanding: It is important to know who you are and what you want. Ask yourself questions like “How would I feel if everything I have was taken away and all that I was left with was myself?”, you can explore deeper level questions as well, like “How am I in the world?”, “What are some key moments that define who I am?”, “What abilities do I have?” or “Where do I struggle the most?”. 
• Work on self-acceptance: One of the most important steps in preserving your self-worth is accepting yourself without any judgements or excuses. You can start by forgiving yourself for your past mistakes and eventually move onto self-affirming statements like: “I fully accept every part of myself, the good and the bad, including my flaws and fears.”, “This is who I am, and I am at peace with it.”. 
• Take responsibility for yourself: In this stage you can practice being responsible for yourself, your problems and your circumstances. Acknowledge that you have the power to change and influence the circumstances of your life. 
• Surround yourself with people who are kind: One way to celebrate your self-worth is by surrounding yourself with people who are kind and accept you for who you are. Such people will build you up and support you in your journey. You can also surround yourself with people who have overcome their doubts about themself and are on the path of recognizing their own self-worth. 
• Talk to a professional: If at any point you feel that you are struggling with low self-worth and are unable to break the cycle, remind yourself that help is available. We at AtEase, have professionals that are non-judgemental and can help you navigate any emotions you might face. 

How can you preserve self-worth during the pandemic?

The pandemic brought about a lot of problems that shifted the ways we normally lived our lives. This may have affected your self-worth and brought with it many mental health problems. While the above tips to preserve your self-worth can be followed at any time, here are a few extra tips along with ideas of self-worth to celebrate your strengths, for keeping your self-worth intact during these difficult times.

• Focus on your wants and needs first. Look at what you value and how you want to spend time. A lot of people suffered financial losses because of the pandemic, so instead of looking into how much money you wish to make, look at what you are willing to engage in to feel a sense of fulfillment. 
• If at any point you feel social media is affecting you, you can take a break from it. There are a lot of other activities that you can focus on. Do what makes you feel good about yourself. 
• Stay in touch with people. It is important to stay in touch with people who have gone through a similar situation as you have. Reaching out is one of the best things you can do. Remember you are not alone. 

Self-worth is an important concept for us to understand. It is important for us to know how to build and maintain a healthy sense of self-worth as that can make us feel happy and fulfilled. Take the first steps towards building healthy self-worth today and hope the ideas of self-worth to celebrate your strengths shared in this column was beneficial to you.