Help for low self-esteem begins with the question: who would you be without the belief that you are not good enough? Everyone having that belief will answer this differently. And everyone having that belief will, in varying degrees, want to defend that belief.

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For those who have held this belief for a long time, the challenge in letting that belief go is facing the new responsibilities that come with realizing that you are good enough and always have been. For others, the belief is more about what’s happening in life right now.

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Getting past low self-esteem may look like us working through the circumstances of your current situation by developing new strategies and skills to change or cope with the circumstances.

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Getting past low self-esteem may look like us identifying assumptions about yourself or about life that you hadn’t previously noticed. Sometimes bringing those assumptions into the light allows us to see that they’re not true, and can be let go.

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Like depression, getting past low self-esteem may look like us working with underlying trauma. How you learned to survive the past may include having created a narrative about the self as flawed. That narrative helps cope with the pain of disappointment, of abandonment, or of not feeling loved and cared for.

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Low self-esteem often goes together with depression, because the underlying belief that you are not good enough (and may never be good enough) can fill your life with despair. If you are questioning the value of your life, and are having thoughts about ending your life, it’s vital that you reach out.