Self esteem and confidence
Confidence is not a personality trait you were issued or denied. It is closer to a track record of being met.
This page is a working draft. It has not yet been reviewed and approved by our clinical team, and it is not indexed by search engines until it is.
What this is about
People arrive at this in different ways: some were criticised, some were compared, some were praised only for output, and some were simply never especially noticed. What follows is a habit of measuring yourself against a standard you did not set, and discounting the evidence that would contradict it. Advice to think positively tends to bounce off, because the belief was not built out of thinking.
What work here looks like
The work is slower and more interesting than affirmations: finding where the standard came from, noticing what it costs, and building experience of being seen accurately.
Nothing on this page is a diagnosis. If you are in immediate danger or worried you might act on thoughts of harming yourself, please contact Tele-MANAS (14416 or 1-800-89-14416, available 24×7 across India) or your local emergency services.
Where this often overlaps.
