Self-esteem Help

Keeping oneself occupied is helpful. Keep yourself busy working, going to school, or offering service to others.

Ditto on the CBT that was mentioned above. It truely can help.

Jack kornfield. Chicken soup for the soul. Hang out with horses. You sound like you are doing well re: mfp. Be kind to yourself x

Ask your therapist if there's work you can do outside of the sessions to work on your self-esteem. Best of luck.

Think of the little things, just really anything that gives you joy and do more or anything that does. Good luck

I would definitely look into any sort of exercise that does fit into your recovery.

As well, I fully believe that talking to a counselor is a great idea. There are sometimes things that we bury because we don't want to deal with them, but they can rear their head at will. Sometimes they are things that we are completely unaware of and it just takes opening up to reveal and cope with them.

I know that for me, it took a "fake it til it's true" sort of mentality. I've hated my body (and self as a whole) for most of my life. After graduating college, I decided to move to California (which I"ve wanted since I was three) and I made that decision for myself and not for anyone else. I MADE myself do things that I'd never done before: go out and eat alone, go to the movies alone, go run on the beach alone, etc. I made myself look in the mirror every single morning and say out loud, "the presumption at all times and under all circumstances, should always be that you are good enough, worthy enough, and lovable enough. And that you are exactly the right kind of person, in the right place, at the right time. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been instilled with such dreams in the first place." I don't know, maybe that sounds dorky or corny, but it's helped me a lot. Words cannot express how great it feels to wake up in the morning and be proud of myself, both mentally and physically. I think that professional help is a great first step, but I think that a lot of this is going to have to come from you stepping up and saying, "I deserve better than I"m giving myself and that changes today."

Good luck and feel free to add me or PM me if you ever need to talk.

Write this down, photocopy it, paste it everywhere you go in your home, office, car, etc...read out loud numerous times per day until you belive it:

Have you talked with a counselor? If you know you have lots of things to feel good about, but you still don't, it may be time to get some help working on cognitive behavioral therapy. Seriously. I had *kitten*-all self image until I started seeing my shrink. He helped me get through some totally insane crap and after ten years of applying the tools he helped me develop, I basically love myself more than any one person should.

yea, I already do. it just doesn't seem like it is enough. I feel like I need to be working on it outsides of the therapy situation. I mean, I know a lot about therapy, I actually have my BA in Psychology. I've seen more than one counselor as well. It just doesn't seem to work for me. I'll go and see the counselors on days that I'm felling fine and later that week or day the feelings start to hit. Or so it seems.

Seek out a counselor the specializes in CBT. They should be helping you learn tools to take with you for those days when you're out in the real world and start to feel like crap. Therapy isn't just a couch and a guy with a notebook - I looked at it like school. We did exercises and talked about how CBT works as a psychological application and then I practiced using what I learned in real-life settings. I usually had 'homework' of some kind, often my therapist would help me select one situation that had been bothering me the week before and we would work through my thoughts and feelings, and there would be something I would have to go out and do about it - either confront someone about what they said/did, or make one small step in the right direction on taking action over the situation, etc.

Keep bettering yourself! If you cant exersize read a book! research a topic you find interesting and learn everthing you can about it. Maybe try leaning to draw or paint or play an instrument. Even makeing a little effort to a few of these things may help you feel better about yourself. Knowing you put in the work and it may help you feel more rounded like you have more to offer! good luck! you are beautiful!