How many with low self-esteem have overcome it?

[dseag2]

I was given the "double whammy". I was bullied as a child and my mother had serious self-esteem issues. Parents with low self-esteem pass it onto their children. Even my past partners picked up on this and made me feel "less than".

I spent many years with these issues but realized I was an intelligent, successful individual who deserved to be respected. Every day I reflect on what I have achieved in life. Now I feel completely confident and won't put up with any of the BS. Anyone else?

 

[Bretrick]

For many years my self worth was in the gutter.
It was not until my early 40's that I found myself and finally stopped taking all the crap thrown at me.
Today I am a well adjusted, productive member of society because one day I said - "No more"

 

[Ruthanne]

I have had some self esteem issues at times but learned to overcome them. It can be very hard to do that when one suffers from depression, too. It is very possible, as all in this thread know, to overcome it. I try not to let anyone push me around.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Courage!

 

[helenbacque]

My self-esteem grew expeditiously when I extracted myself from a 25 yr. marriage to a manipulating, degrading, bully.

 

[Remy]

I too had the double whamy. Mentally ill mother and bullied in school. My self esteem will always be bad. I do realize a lot more now and I'm less likely to take crap from others. Since taking crap was my baseline, even well into being an adult, that's what I did.

 

[Mr. Ed]

Loss of ego does not mean low self-esteem

 

[Pepper]

I'm too old to have low self esteem. Who gives a ---- anymore? Not me. Too boring.

 

[Nathan]

When I was in grade school I was on the bottom rung, scholastically. I thought I was dumb, and just accepted it...until my parents and teacher discussed the situation and the fact that I was(still am) Left handed. Oh, let's LET him be left handed...so I started writing with my normal hand, and my learning just shot straight up immediately. Since then I've been fascinated with learning new things...because I Can!

 

[Flaneuse]

Parents with low self-esteem pass it onto their children. Even my past partners picked up on this and made me feel "less than".

Oh my gosh - so true! I know a little about my mother's history and know she suffered terribly from low self esteem, starting as a child who was ignored in favor of her more attractive sister. One step to recovering my own self esteem was to leave my husband, who said he thought I wasn't good enough for him. Ouch! Another was to get a professional degree that proved to me that I could accomplish an important goal. I finally started on a career path where I was valued, and when I was hired by my last employer, the hiring manager said "we lost you once before; we don't want to lose you again" and then he gave me everything I asked for in my compensation package. A couple of years later, I was chosen over other candidates for a plum overseas assignment. Yes, these were all external events, but all of them helped me realize that I really was as good as anyone else - even my ex-husband, who has stayed in touch and is finally respectful. Life is so much easier and happier now that I feel I have as much right to be here as anyone else.

 

[Irwin]

I used to feel bad about myself. Now I just hate everybody.

... except, of course, for the people here in SF and some other online forums. I do okay online... not so much in real life, though. That's just the way it is.

 

[Warrigal]

My self esteem was always rather fragile until I went to a marriage encounter weekend.
One takeaway from that weekend was the sentence, "God does not make junk".

It succinctly reminds us that everyone is valuable and should be valued, even oneself.

Feeling valuable releases us from negative feelings that diminish our potential as human beings.