Mindful social media habits are important skills to learn to protect our self-esteem. Social media allows us to get a glimpse into the lives of so many people. Unfortunately, constant updates about people’s vacations, weddings, job offers, graduations and newborns don’t always fill us with joy. In fact, being inundated with everyone else’s highlight reel can damage our mental health. Many studies have shown a link between social media use and low self-esteem. For example, a study published this year found that one hour spent on Facebook is associated with a decrease in an individual’s self-esteem score, which authors say is influenced by the social comparisons that people engage in.1 But there are ways to integrate mindful social media use so that you can protect your self-esteem.

I’m Sam Woolfe, and I’m really excited to start writing on building self-esteem for HealthyPlace. For a long time, I have struggled with low self-esteem, low self-worth, harsh self-criticism and even self-hatred. Thoughts and feelings related to low self-esteem have, no doubt, held me back in many ways, but they never seemed like some big issue I had to address. That was, until, certain life events, stressful situations, magnified and intensified these thoughts in a depression.

In this quick video therapist Emily Roberts teaches you how to raise your self-esteem with five simple tips.

Being overly critical of yourself goes hand in hand with low self-esteem as well as other mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. Constructive criticism can be appropriate, healthy, and helpful at times; however, being overly critical is not. When you’re overly critical, you might have unreasonable expectations, exaggerate the negatives or you might be extremely judgemental of yourself. For a healthy self-esteem, it’s important to see yourself in a healthy, balanced way. To do that, you need to stop being overly critical of yourself.

Identifying your good qualities can be challenging when you believe you’re worthless or have low self-esteem. When you’re feeling worthless, your negative thoughts distort your perception of yourself and you overlook the positives. However, they’re not the truth even though you might believe it. No matter who you are, you are not worthless and you do have good qualities. Identifying your good qualities even if you feel worthless can help guide you to the things you’re suited to, find meaning or purpose in your life, and most importantly, to see your own worth so you can build your self-esteem.

Self-care is important for your physical health as well as your mind, soul and, let's face it, your overall health. Without self-care, your relationships with others can suffer tremendously. Last week's blog explained how you can practice self-care on a budget, which is important. But true self-care doesn't have to cost a dime!

What are your rights in relationships? Do you feel like others take advantage of you or that they don't listen to you? Do you feel like you wish others would be more appreciative or respect you more? If so, you need to get clear on what your rights are in your relationships, it will help you feel more confident and you will develop healthier connections with others.

If you use dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills to communicate with confidence you will notice incredible changes. Who doesn't want to feel more in control and confident before entering a conversation, especially if there is some tension between you and the other person? This new DBT skill is one of the best skills I've come across to help you confident before you say a word. The video will help you use DBT skills to communicate with confidence.

Being a people-pleaser is a sign of low self-esteem. If you’re a people-pleaser, you go out of your way to make other people happy. Your choices or actions might be based on what others think, want or expect from you. Your self-worth is probably dependent on the approval from others, and it most likely reflects your personal insecurities. It’s okay to be kind and helpful to others, but to a point. Excessive people-pleasing is unhealthy and it can worsen your self-esteem. The good news is that you can stop being a people-pleaser.

So many people have come to me with the desire to become a more assertive and confident communicator. They see others who do it well and want to feel that confidence but don't know how. Perhaps they haven't had enough practice, they don't know where to start, their emotions are too intense or because speaking up and expressing yourself is scary. All may be true, but if you don't communicate assertively, you're not going to feel confident in communicating with others and will feel lower self-confidence in general. Watch this video to learn skills that make you a more assertive and confident communicator.