The Magic And Simplicity Of Building Self-esteem

There is nothing better for self-esteem than building self-esteem. As strange as that sounds, it is that simple.

A lot of people think that one has to be either born with self-esteem, or maybe was popular in high-school and held onto that for the rest of their lives, always succeeding at whatever due to public support. The truth is, nothing could be further from the truth.

This is actually not the case at all. The beauty you had a crush on in high school who maybe relied mainly on beauty for self-esteem later becomes an adult, has children and stretch marks, and a bad marriage. She escapes into television and maybe chemical dependence. It doesn’t always happen that way, but more regularly than you may think.

In other cases, children born into royalty, Hollywood elite families, etc. have much expected out of them from the start. This can erode self-esteem early. I am not saying this happens to all the high and mighty, but it is more commonplace than one might think.

So, once again, self-esteem can do wonders for your self-esteem. That might not make sense if you feel your self-esteem has diminished for whatever reason. My point is, it can be learned for the first time, or be established maybe for the first time in a whole new lifestyle. We have the right to reinvent ourselves.

Were you the star-wrestler in high school with rippling muscles and worked out regularly and was applauded every time flexed? Did you make good grades and were used to positive feedback? Maybe this enhanced yoru esteem early in life. But now life is different. Perhaps you have a big money-making business that does not interest you and you want to sell it. The pay all goes to an ungrateful wife who spends it on fashions and takes vacations with her girlfriends. Look around now. Did the self-esteem go down?

The truth is, as adults, we more often than not, have to create our own self-esteem. And the closer we get to knowing our real selves, the closer we get to higher self-esteem. We no longer get all the unconditional love, attention, and acknowledgment of our deeds we did when we were younger. It builds by the little things we do. Try it, keep a journal, and look at it next year. Read the whole year and see how dramatically you have changed for the better.

Even on a depressing day, drive yourself to a soup kitchen and volunteer. Visit a shut-in; run an errand for someone wheelchair-bound. Tutor a childwith his/her homework. Do something positive to get outside of yourself. You will not get back your self-esteem most likely in one day. But if you find yourself making it a habit of helping others, you will slowly find your self-esteem rising. It is a natural consequence of helping others and getting outside oneself. Maybe it’s physics. The universe works in this fashion. We can fight it or join it.

Iwith depression and low-self-esteem since my teen years (even when I was a popular kid). I always felt alone, even with people. Then I grew up. I became an adult. All of a sudden I was in my late forties. How did it all happen so fast. It was a blur. But now, I’d had a major heart attack and I was keenly aware of my mortality. Heart attack? That was what other people had, not me. I guess everyone thinks that. So I took a week and analyzed my life. I took, (as Richard Dreyfus’ book in ‘What About Bob?’, baby steps. I studied. I researched. I learned. I even went back to college online. Online colleges lured some of them and they continue to study.

All these little things worked toward building my self-esteem and I don’t say build it back. I don’t think I ever had it in the first place. So self-esteem is new to me, and a little goes a long way.

Many people have had it much rougher than me. I have endured much in my life including homelessness, and I am certain there are many others who have even meaner stories, so if I can do it, anyone can. I just take a little time out of each day and do something positive, or create something, work on one of my projects, write a story like this one, to build my self-esteem. I may miss the mark some of the time, but I try to learn to do it right the next time, and still, I take time for myself to do just a little something positive for me or someone else, or both, for no pay, even if they insist.

In ten years of doing this, I feel I’ve made me a better person, and given that, made the world a little better place.

I launched Londons Times Cartoons which makes people laugh. I then opened numerous gift stores like LTSuperstore, RickLondonCollection, Justfunnygreetingcards,Justfunnycoffeemugs, Justfunnyaprons, Mirthgirthbirth, RickLondonwear, Justfunnymousepads, Justfunnyhoodies, etc. People order my cartoon gifts and collectibles from these stores and other people laugh and feel better about themselves as well.

When we are around humor or feel humorous, we don’t take life so seriously. If you do not feel you are a funny person, that is okay. Simply expose yourself to humor, on a daily basis. As time goes by, changes eventually happen, for the positive. They did for me, and I was definitely not a funny person.

It won’t happen overnight, I can almost guarantee you. But it will happen if you put forth just a little effort. Remember Bill Murray, once again, in ‘What About Bob’. Baby Steps. And each of those baby steps will build you into the person you always wanted to be, and more.

Cartoonist Rick London battled depression and low self-esteem for years. He has since taken a path to feeling better about oneself. He makes others laugh with his cartoon gifts & collectibles and Top Internet Offbeat Cartoons Easy Self-Esteem: Even If You’ve Never Had It