Ah, if only I were a Vassar College student, I could have access to their wonderful mental health clinic, where I would discover self-esteem improving tips such as:
– Identify the people you feel intimidated by. Learn to be assertive with them.
– When you fail at something, say: "That’s okay. I’ll do better next time."
– When you’re feeling blue, say: "It’s okay. I will be alright."
– If your day was rough, relax in the evening or as soon as you can.
– When you try something new and don’t catch on right away, give yourself credit for trying.
How sweet! How original! How helpful!
If you want real tips for how to improve self-esteem, check out these useful thoughts.
I’m always surprised by how bad people are at moving from an isolated research result to practical policy.
I’m sure there are reams of research on undergraduate mental health that shows that self-esteem is an important factor. But why must this lead to moronic policy prescriptions?
Perhaps in the future there will be an increasing valued placed on those rare few who can connect the findings of psychological science with the social realities of how humans operate in a complex society.
Imagine the impact one such individual could have on, say, a college campus.
If only…
One list is as moronic as the other. In fact, they’re analogous. Look at number 7 on your recommended list–“Talk affirmatively to yourself and others.” How does that differ from “That’s okay. I’ll do better next time.”? How does “Quit blaming yourself for mistakes in the past” differ from “When you try something new and don’t catch on right away, give yourself credit for trying.”
I’ve gone from no self-esteem to a moderate level of self-esteem. I know the things I’m good at, but acknowledging those things don’t necessarily make me feel better about myself.”
Pop psychology is crap.
“but acknowledging those things *doesn’t*” I know we don’t have to strive for perfection in these comments (e.g., I’m not correcting the lack of a question mark after the word “trying”–well, maybe I am after all), but certain corrections are essential.
Forget self-esteem, work on your optimism:
http://bookoutlines.pbwiki.com/Learned+Optimism
haha wow, benne this is harsh, i know there is competition between all the lib art colleges, but let’s be a little more enthuastic about the school of mutual friend…
forgot to post my name…
I build self esteem by accomplishing things, not by telling myself I’m wonderful.
I’ll take whatever I can get lol