Rebuild Self-Esteem
On the day when Liz wore her new suit to work, she was determined to look great. She spent extra time on her hair and makeup, and even searched out a nice pair of stockings.
The suit was beautiful—dark navy with a subtle pinstripe. The double-breasted jacket and slim, calf-length skirt fit nicely.
When she walked down the hall toward her office, Liz waited for someone to notice how wonderful she looked. It didn’t take long.
Dorothy, a fashion-conscious manager from accounting, paused as she met Liz. “Nice suit,” she said. Then her eyes slid downward and she added, “But those shoes don’t seem to work with it. Maybe a pair of smooth black pumps would help pull it together.”
Liz choked out a quick “thank you,” then stumbled toward her office, closed the door and burst into tears. Once again, she had screwed up. “Why can’t I ever get it right?” she wondered. “I try so hard to dress like a sharp, professional woman, but I’ve failed at it again.”
The rest of the day, she kept feeling the sting of Dorothy’s words. When she finally got home, Liz hung the suit in her closet and never wore it again.
When Liz looked back on that day, she told me, “I’m still bothered by my reaction. I wish I’d had a better response—some snappy comeback that would have let me ignore Dorothy’s words. But I got caught off guard by her comment. I immediately concluded she must be right and that something was wrong with me!”
Liz was ME
I don’t usually tell people this, but a lot of the stories in Life is Hard, Food is Easy are actually about me. This is one of them. I can still remember how awful I felt that day, and how hard it was to get past my self-esteem struggles after that.
But I did. With time, I learned a lot of things that help improve self-esteem. I also developed a lot of tools that have built my self-esteem over the years. Here is a list of my favorite ones, along with links to my notes about them. In the book chapter, the content of “at my best” and the “list of strengths” are also about me.
Click here for Chapter 4.
Today: Read Chapter 4 in Life is Hard, Food is EasyThis week, I want you to complete these two worksheets. You can print them or write the answers in your notebook or journal.
Here are the worksheets: