Importance of Self-Esteem free essay sample

Self- esteem is an important part of life. Without strong self-esteem we are not at our full potential. We need strong self-esteem to have the confidence to do many tasks. The way others perceive us has an effect on our self-esteem as well as how we perceive ourselves. In order to have good self-esteem, we need others to be encouraging and communicate in a positive way. We also need to build our own self-esteem by realizing we need to be our self, not what others necessarily think we should be. Negativity from others only lowers our self-esteem and makes us less confident. We need confidence in order to communicate well with others. As I ponder on my self-esteem, I feel I am very confident in most areas but really lacking in others. An area that my self-esteem is lacking is speaking in front of a group of people or having a conversation with someone who is not very talkative. We will write a custom essay sample on Importance of Self-Esteem or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I am normally a very talkative person but when it comes to communicating in the two situations mentioned above, my confidence goes out the window, so to speak. A perfect example of my problem is an Art class I recently took. My assignment was to do a painting by a certain artist and a presentation board on the artist. I was to get in front of my class and do a three to four minute presentation on the artist. I was very anxious from the day I received the assignment until the assignment was finished. Three or four minutes in front of a group of people seemed a life time to me because I do not have confidence when it comes to speaking in front of a group of people I know, much less a group of strangers. I felt I had done my best and my work was good. I felt like I had an A on the project but the anxiety would not go away. When I entered class the day of my presentation, I was shaking like a leaf. When my name was called to do my presentation matters only got worse. I got in front of class and forgot what I wanted to say, which did not matter because I could barely speak. Thank goodness, my art instructor started raving about how well I had done on the painting and the presentation board about a minute into the presentation. He said I did so well I did not have to talk about it; otherwise I would have had problems getting through the presentation. I received an A for the project. I was teased by classmates that I was the instructor’s pet because he kept on and on about how good my work was during the semester. I had to do this one more time in that class and tried to convince myself it was no big deal and I had obviously done a great job according to my instructor, but it was not any easier the second time around. Having the confidence to speak in front of others is an obstacle that I cannot seem to overcome. Being able to communicate well helps one to build self-esteem. I feel my problem with lack of confidence when speaking or communicating is due to lack of communicating and voicing my opinion at a younger age. At the time I was growing up, youngsters were not expected to give their opinions to their peers. My grandfather felt children should not give their opinion on any subject. Also, during school age, certain school mates thought they were better than others and made fun of anything the ones who were not in their group said or did, so I did not say much hoping that would stop the negative remarks. I feel their goal was to make students who were less fortunate feel less of a person, as well as to boost their egos. The lack of using proper speech also plays a part in my lack of confidence when talking to groups who I feel expects me to speak properly. I have heard many comments on how people in this area of Kentucky talk. Some say they love to hear us talk. The comments are not necessarily meant to be negative, more so teasing, but they are stuck in my mind when communicating with others who speak in a proper manner. I feel the lack of being encouraged and communicated to positively when speaking plays a role in my low self-esteem when communicating with others.