Low self esteem is universally seen as a bad thing. I disagree. It's a wonderful thing! Bear with me...
Imagine if you were living a terrible life, you make terrible decisions that often harm others. But you also have really high self esteem. Well you'd see zero rationale for changing your ways even if people tried to give you feedback or get you to see the error of your ways. You'd be positive it was not YOUR fault. It's "everyone else" that's the problem. You've probably worked with someone like that...in fact they're probably your boss or that annoying colleague 🤣. They may (annoyingly) be quite successful as people that are low in conscientiousness often are (they may be willing to take greater risks or throw people under the bus to climb the greasy poll of success) but it rarely lasts. These people can rise high but also crash & burn spectacularly. The cumulative effect of years of shitty decisions and unnecessary hurt caused eventually catches up with them & the fallout can be catastrophic.
Feeling self conscious or questioning yourself is an essential part of how we grow & evolve. It's the guidance system we need to navigate through an increasingly complicated life. You probably don't notice the times when you WEREN'T feeling self conscious or being unduly hard on yourself because it served no purpose for you to do so. When you DO notice, it's for a reason. Something needs to change in your life or you're not meeting your potential.
That's a really crappy feeling... but it's better than not having that awareness of the amazing person you know deep down you could be. Where people come unstuck is wallowing in that feeling for too long rather than seeing it as a call to action. I blame the modern conveniences, stupid distractions & overwhelming choices of 21st century living for that. It's never been easier to find a reason or distraction for NOT doing something. I've definitely been guilty of that during this Corona Virus lockdown! It also struck me listening to Boris Johnson compare our "heroic efforts" to "stay at home & save lives" with the war effort of the previous generation. Umm no. I stayed at home, ordered pizza, played Red Dead Redemption & watched Netflix. I've not really sacrificed anything. We're so damn lucky we've become desensitised as to what effort & hard work really are & at the same time we may also have very high standards & expectations. It's not a great combination.
So I'd argue we should call low self esteem "re-calibration time" or something less judgemental. Because the very act of labelling it as low self-esteem leads you to feel even more crap about yourself. Like you've failed. You haven't. Quite the opposite.
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