Self-esteem issue

Self-esteem is a person’s subjective evaluation of his or her own worth. Self-esteem serves as an important index of a person’s psychological health and will affect a person’s behaviours. Low self-esteem will lead a person to seeing himself or herself in a more negative and critical way, causing them less able to take on challenges. When low self-esteem becomes a long term problem, it may be a harmful mental problem.

If you have issue with self-esteem, you may consider the following advice:

  • Appreciate yourself

    Everyone is unique and we should live with self-respect. Accept ourselves, recognise the values of one’s inner strengths and virtues. Then try to develop our potential interests and abilities. Schedule a time to identify positive aspects of oneself every day

  • Improve our weakness

    No one is perfect. We should have reasonable expectation and set achievable goal according to our abilities. We should keep improving our weakness by persistently adhering to our plans

  • Do not compare with others

    There is always someone better than you. Comparing with others is endless and this can hurt your self-esteem. Setting attainable goal and putting persistent effort to improve ourselves are more under our own control.

  • Less focus on the outcomes

    Everyone makes mistakes. It is more important to learn from mistakes and keep improving. Focus on the effort and determination that you have made, not just the outcome. Admitting our mistakes and accepting our weakness, and preventing them from happening again

  • Build up social network

    Build up mutual respect and trust with your parents, other family members, teachers and friends in our daily lives. Share your thoughts and feelings with them so that they can understand, support and help you

Student Health Service
Department of Health
June 2020