How to Boost Your Self-Esteem: During This Month & Beyond

Written on March 4, 2022

Self-esteem is more than just how you feel about yourself, it can impact decision-making, relationships, mental and physical health, and your overall well-being.

February is International Boost Self-Esteem Month – a global event dedicated to improving self-esteem and increasing mental health awareness, so there’s no better time to be more positive and feel better about yourself by increasing your self-esteem. It’s especially important this year considering the stress as everyone spent more time inside alone with themselves and their thoughts for the better part of the last two years.

If you want to get started improving your self-esteem, consider these tips:

Try to stop comparing yourself to others: Comparison often robs you of the sense of joy and accomplishment you feel in your life. The achievements of others don’t take away from what you’ve done!
Exercise: During exercise, your body releases endorphins – chemicals that can trigger a positive feeling. Even taking a short walk every day can give your self-esteem a boost, as a 2010 study published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal found.
Be kind: Engaging in prosocial behavior and making choices that benefit others can play a role in boosting self-esteem. It’s simple – helping others makes you feel good.
Be more mindful: Being more mindful by maintaining awareness of thoughts, feelings, sensations, and the environment around you in the present moment can help improve self-esteem. A recent systematic review of over 400 previous studies on mindfulness found mindfulness to be beneficial in helping people improve their psychological well-being in clinical and non-clinical settings.

The best part about all these tips is that you don’t need to go to a mental health treatment center to do so. These are all tips and things you can practice on your own. But boosting your self-esteem isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. If you do feel you need mental health services to help you, the compassionate professionals at Flatirons Recovery are here to help. Self-esteem also plays a role in recovering from substance abuse and addiction, and our mental health treatment center in Boulder can treat both addiction and mental health disorders. Our addiction and mental health services focus on healing our patients’ whole selves, not just one specific part of them, and this approach sets us apart from any other addiction or mental health treatment center. Contact us today to learn more about our programs!