As with anything else that holds deep value in life, building self-esteem is a lifetime journey filled with ups and downs that need to be embraced and dealt with.

It tends to be much easier to recognize and appreciate our worth when life is flowing smoothly and we’re receiving love and attention along the way.

However, when a crisis strikes, we lose someone we deeply love or we mess up pretty badly, it becomes really difficult to maintain a positive relationship with ourselves, especially if we were raised in a very judgemental or neglectful environment.

Thinking about that, I decided to outline the most effective practices I’ve learned throughout my life about building and preserving self-esteem. I hope they will help you too. 🎁

1. **Accountability for our acts and choices** – Being responsible for the role we play in everything that happens to us instead of believing that we are powerless against the way our lives unfold.

2. **Self-reflection/self-knowledge** – Having the habit of identifying and assessing our belief systems, behaviors, patterns, thoughts, and feelings.

3. **Self-care** – Taking care of our mental and physical health, appearance, hygiene, and meeting our needs.

4. **Self-acceptance** – Embracing our flaws, traumas, and vulnerabilities.

5. **Self-respect** – Not compromising or negotiating our dignity, boundaries, and values to keep something or someone around.

6. **Self-growth** – Being in constant expansion through learning new things and investing in the improvement of the various areas of our lives (health, finances, education, career, relationships, spirituality, etc.)

7. **Being connected to our bodies and instincts** – Avoiding living too much in our heads, and instead, paying attention to our emotions and physical sensations.

8. **Having healthy relationships** – Only closely engaging with people who add value to our lives and don’t threaten our safety or well-being.

9. **Navigating judgment and rejection** – Learning to be OK when someone criticizes us or is not interested in being part of our lives.

10. **Giving back to our community** – Serving others with some of our resources, such as time, money, knowledge, life experience, etc.

11. **Working on our mission** – Finding out our passion and acting upon it, even if it is just in the form of a hobby.

12. **Being authentic** – Speaking up our truth and living on our terms.

13. **Facing our darkness** – Doing inner work to heal our emotional traumas and address our bad behaviors towards ourselves and others.

14. **Taking risks** – Going out of our comfort zone to pursue meaningful goals and solve our problems.

15. **Not comparing ourselves with others** – Keeping the focus on our own journey instead of in the competition with people around us.

What about you? Is there any other practice that you would like to add to this list? If yes, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! Let’s explore new ideas together.

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