All of us at one point in our lives have probably suffered from low self-esteem. We live in a world where people always judge one another and always compare themselves to others. As a result, many people end up having to deal with a very low self-esteem that can seem to affect all the aspects of their everyday lives.

When you keep being subjected to negative influences and negative thoughts of others, the way you view yourself is very likely to be affected. Low self-esteem can affect our lives in many ways. Here are just of the possible side effects.

Not knowing your true worth

One of the biggest problems that arise from having low self-esteem is not actually knowing and appreciating your true worth. What this means essentially is that you will not be able to truly let yourself reach your full potential and you will keep holding yourself back if you do not believe in your powers and your abilities.

In the long run, this can create a number of problems. You might end up feeling stuck in jobs you don’t enjoy, in relationships that don’t make you happy and the worst thing is that you will feel like you deserve everything that comes your way since that’s the best you can do for yourself. If this happens early in your life it can even affect your academic life and your skills.

Not knowing your true worth can bring a lot of other side effects too. One of these is not allowing you to chase after your dreams. Even if you love doing something, you might feel like you will never be able to do it properly and that will only make you live a life with which you will never be happy or satisfied.

Being afraid of making mistakes

A common side effect that low self-esteem causes to people is making them terrified of making mistakes. As this keeps growing, it can easily affect their abilities to make decisions as they will believe that everything they will do will turn into failure.

In reality though, the most you avoid doing something in fear of messing it up, the more nervous and unhappy you become. Mistakes are a normal part of life and they truly are the best way for us to learn and to evolve into greater versions of ourselves.

If you are facing any situation where you fear you might make a mistake, the easier thing to do is ask for help. For example, if you need to write a paper but aren’t sure of the structure of your text or your vocabulary, you can look up a term paper writing service which will help you correct any possible mistakes and learn how to handle them.

This tactic will truly help you understand that mistakes are totally normal and actually manageable and you will over time be able to not be as afraid of making mistakes anymore. The trick is not to panic and to think of ways in which you could easily manage and overcome any problems that might arise in case you accidentally make a mistake.

Letting others manipulate you

A big problem that comes with low self-esteem is letting other people manipulate you and use you, oftentimes both emotionally and physically, for their own benefit. People who aren’t really certain of themselves tend to believe they would never be able to break free of a situation that is harmful or scary to them.

If a person understands that they can do whatever they want with you they are very likely to use methods and words in order to make you feel like you are less important than them. You will start feeling like all your accomplishments and success are a result of other people in your life. Manipulative people will decrease your self-esteem even more and make you feel bad just so they can feel superior.

The best way to tackle this issue is to try breaking free of any relationships or situations that you feel are holding you back and making you feel like you are not enough. The steps to loving yourself again can be hard to take but you need to start understanding that you are all you have for the rest of your life, and that letting others manipulate you will not benefit you or your happiness in any way.

Dealing with mental health issues

Most of the time, people who struggle with low self-esteem problems tent to also face mental health issues. Most problems come from the fact that these people are very afraid that they are not capable of changing anything important in their lives.

When fears settle in and anxiety becomes an inseparable part of a person’s everyday life, it can be a clear indicator that the person needs a boost of self-esteem. The best way to go about this is to try facing those fears. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be quite challenging and scary but it can also be very rewarding.

Start by working on your smallest and less significant fears. Try overcoming them and you will be able to feel like you are starting to be a little bit in charge. The more you try fighting fears that have troubled you the most, the more you will be able to get your life back on track,

Turning things around

Having low self-esteem doesn’t have to be a permanent situation. It is in your hand to turn things around and to give yourself the freedom to start doing new things and to live and enjoy your life to the fullest.

Low self-esteem can bring you a lot of side effects and you need to keep working on loving yourself as much as possible in order to take control of your life back into your own hands. Life is naturally full of ups and downs and there will be many times where we will doubt ourselves but as long as we start believing in our powers, everything will turn out fine.

Author's Bio: 

Preston Felix
– freelance writer for different publishing houses and magazines, sociologist and passionate traveler. You can find more on his Twitter.