Insufficient self esteem

TheNightmare

I think my self-esteem is low, not rock bottom, but I feel it's not 100 percent. I don't feel confident as a person or about my future etc. People keep doubting me as well which doesn't help. I've been struggling a bit recently with things and I have been stressed not being able to sleep properly at night.

HarryT

Hello @FordRanger,

You've done really well to reach out to us and share how your feeling at the moment. We can hear that things are feeling a little tricky at the moment and we're here to listen

You mentioned in your message that you feel as though you're lacking confidence in yourself and your future. Do you have any ideas about what you want to do in the future, Ford? You're certainly not the only person who has experienced some anxiety and a lack of self belief when you're approaching what feels like a big decision or a crossroads in life.

When I'm feeling like I'm lacking belief in myself, I often find the below image helpful to reframe how I'm thinking and so I thought I'd share it with you. Often, we think of everyone else as knowing everything and ourselves as knowing nothing. That's what you see on the left hand side. The reality, however, is that you know a lot about your specialist areas or about things that interest you, and other people know a lot about their areas too. The knowledge that you have might be different to other people, sure, but from where I'm standing at least, that doesn't make it any less valuable.



We can all be our worst critics somtimes, Ford, and those feelings are totally valid, but it's good to gently challenge those assumptions about ourselves sometimes.

You also said that you're feeling stressed and that your struggling to sleep as a result of that, Ford. Would you like to tell us a little bit more about that stress? Is it related to the uncertainty of the future or to something else that's going on for you? We're here to listen if you'd like to tell us more.

Take care, Ford, and catch up with you soon!
Harry

TheNightmare

@HarryT hi mate.
Yh im lacking confidence in myself and my future. I think I want to do something with cars or vehicles in the future. I'm just not got much motivation right now which sucks. People keep doubting me. I overthink things too a lot.

With lack of sleep its just me stressing about things like my future, money, jobs, careers etc. I stress about different stuff.

genderless_fungi

Hey @FordRanger,

I second what @HarryT said about being our worst critics sometimes and you're definitely not alone in feeling some sort of anxiety about the future. You mentioned that your sleep problems are due to stress linked to money and employment, would you mind being a bit more specific about what kind of support you think you would need to help with these issues? Is your anxiety stemming from a general sense of uncertainty or are you struggling with something more specific?

I really do understand being uncertain about what to do in life and struggling with motivation. Here are some articles on self esteem (building self esteem, and having low self esteem) which might have useful advice.

Since you mentioned being stressed about work and money, I also want to link some resources where you might be able to find advice and information on employment and financial aid
Job Centre Plus: Job Centre Plus is an organisation that supports people looking for work and those seeking financial aid. You can contact Job Centre Plus about seeking employment, new benefit claims, existing benefit claims including JSA and/or changing or cancelling an appointment. For more information or your local Job Centre Plus' details, go to www.gov.uk/contact-jobcentre-plus


This resource may also be helpful to people struggling to find the right path in life.
-Prince's Trust: There is an organisation called Prince's Trust that work across the UK to offer hundreds of free courses, grants and mentoring opportunities to inspire young people to build their confidence and start a career. They offer a range of programs to help with education and employment for 11 to 30 year olds. For more information, you can call their helpline 0800 842 842 or webchat them Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm via their website at www.princes-trust.org.uk

I hope you find this helpful