What Is Self-Esteem?

Self-esteem. Stimulating a sense of positivity and knowing everything you attempt to accomplish will produce a positive learning experience no matter the outcome. Encouraging yourself to get up and try again whenever you don’t make a sports team or get that leading role in the play. Learning to better yourself with the results of mistakes or bad choices no matter how irresponsible they may have been. Facing your challenges with pride and realizing that a poor grade on an exam was just a result of being ill prepared rather than you not being "smart enough," as someone once said. Self-esteem, self-worth, and self-approval all have one thing in common; identifying one’s “S.E.L.F.” Self-esteem proves indirectly how the obstacles one will face daily can fluctuate moods and feelings to cause a temporary or long-term emotion of unsatisfactory. 

In my opinion, there are two types of self-esteem: healthy or good self-esteem and unhealthy or poor self-esteem. Healthy self-esteem is knowing you tried your best and gaining only a temporary feeling of loss or unsatisfactory depending on one’s performance. Unhealthy self-esteem is feeling as if you didn't perform as well due to personal insecurities or previous experiences. These insecurities lead to gaining a long-term feeling of unsatisfactory causing discouragement to continue or complete any future task or obstacle that may come about. 

Healthy self-esteem is very important to possess and eventually gain in increments as a person gets older, gains personal and intimate relationships, and experiences different societal and personal changes. Self-esteem plays a huge role in my life especially since I am a young, biracial woman furthering my education at a college level, studying to gain the knowledge to climb the competitive career ladder. There are plenty of times that a poor exam grade discourages me and makes me feel as if I’m not good enough, but I keep Stimulating positive thoughts and never give up. I sometimes wake up for class in the morning with a fear of just becoming a statistic, but then I start Encouraging myself to strive to become something better. There are even some days I look at myself in the mirror and ask myself if I am Black or White, but then I realize that I am still Learning that color doesn’t matter as long as my blood is red. Of every thing I have experienced in my twenty years of life, the one thing I learned to do best was Face any challenge that has come my way. Everyday I attempt to do at least one thing productive, and another thing positive or helpful to benefit someone else or my community. In the end, self-esteem makes a person and is the only troll waiting at the bridge of success.

Stimulate. Encourage. Learn. Face. - Esteem.