How does low self-esteem influence personal growth?

A low level of self-esteem can pose various obstacles to one's personal development.

Many people who experience emotional discomfort on a daily basis do not suffer from any kind of psychological disorder. However, this is no reason to assume that such discomfort is something normal and nothing can be done about it: there is much we can do to improve our lives, including on a psychological level.

An example of this can be found in the forms of dissatisfaction linked to low self-esteem and obstacles to personal growth. Neither of these two situations is in itself a psychopathology, but they have the power to make us suffer and even to make us learn to overcome them. The way we perceive and value ourselves has a lot to do with the ease with which we find exciting projects to which we can dedicate time and effort.

In this article we will see the way in which low self-esteem problems influence personal developmentand why these psychological complications arise.

What are self-esteem and personal development?

To understand how these two psychological elements are related, we must first understand what they are. Let's start with a few brief definitions.

Self-esteem is the way in which an individual perceives and values him/herself, having as a reference an idea of an ideal "I".. In other words, self-esteem has both a descriptive component (how we believe we are) and a moral and evaluative component (to what degree we believe we are close to the idea of "good" and desirable). Thus, unlike self-concept, which is the set of ideas and beliefs that make up our concept of "I", self-esteem is linked to emotions of attachment or detachment to oneself.

As for personal growth, it can be defined as the set of psychological processes that provide us with an idea of a desirable life project for ourselves, and which also includes the position we take in life.It also includes the position we have reached in that progress. It has a lot to do with happiness, in the sense that it is not limited to the ability to experience pleasant moments in a timely manner, but goes hand in hand with a sense of well-being in our past, present and future. Thus, enjoying good personal growth implies feeling that we are doing something useful and meaningful with our lives, according to our values and interests.

Of course, neither self-esteem nor personal development are realities that can be fully encompassed by such summary definitions of these concepts, but with these ideas we can already understand approximately what they consist of. Now, how do they relate to each other?

4 ways in which low self-esteem limits personal growth

As both self-esteem and personal development are complex psychological phenomena, they can interact with each other in many ways, depending on our personality, our values, our life context, our Biological predispositions, etc. Here we will review the most common ones in cases where the person has too low a level of self-esteem.

1. Associated with a more passive lifestyle

Statistically, people with low self-esteem have a predisposition to confine their activities to what they know well. This results in a lifestyle based on monotony and lack of new stimuli, making it easier to become stagnant.This makes it easier to stagnate and not get in touch with ideas and projects with the capacity to "pull us" and make us get out of our comfort zone.

2. It causes fear of failure to paralyze us

Along the same lines as above, low self-esteem predisposes us to focus on catastrophic predictions about the results of our actions..

This makes it easy for us not only not to try our luck with new experiences, but also to avoid exposing ourselves to certain situations that may be considered a challenge. This includes turning down invitations to participate in group activities, not daring to apply for a promotion in our company, not trying to go to language classes with a friend, etc.

3. Increases the risk of developing psychological disorders

Although low self-esteem is not a psychopathology, it can contribute to the development of psychological disorders..

Both depressive disorders and certain anxiety disorders correspond to this dynamic of avoidance of complications and pessimism about one's own abilities and positive qualities. And having developed this kind of mental health problems, it is complicated to promote one's own personal development as long as we have not overcome the disorder before.

4. It generates distractions

Low self-esteem goes hand in hand with unpleasant daily experiences: constantly remembering things we have done that make us feel ashamed or guilty, suffering from intrusive thoughts that make us feel anxious, etc. Because of that, it is easy for us to spend a lot of time trying to get those disturbing mental images out of our mind, taking away our ability to concentrate, to concentrate, and so on.This can take away our ability to concentrate on tasks that can boost our personal development.

In addition, we often adopt anxiety management habits that bring momentary relief but cause more problems in the long run: binge eating without being hungry, smoking, etc. This deteriorates our physical and psychological condition and keeps us away from long-term goals.

What to do about this type of problem?

If you notice that you have self-esteem problems that negatively affect your self-esteem, it is worth seeking professional psychological help. So, if you are thinking about starting a psychotherapy process, please contact me.