"According to the University of Texas, there seem to be three “faces of low self-esteem”. These include first, the imposter. The Imposter acts happy and successful, but is really terrified of failure. She lives with the constant fear that she will be "found out" and needs continuous successes to maintain the mask of positive self-esteem. This leads to problems with perfectionism, procrastination, competition, and burn-out.
The Rebel acts like the opinions or good will of others (especially people who are important or powerful) don't matter. She lives with constant anger about not feeling "good enough" and continuously needs to prove that others' judgments and criticisms don't hurt. This leads to problems like blaming others excessively, breaking rules or laws, or fighting authority.
The loser acts helpless and unable to cope with the world and waits for someone to come to the rescue. She uses self-pity or indifference as a shield against fear of taking responsibility for changing her life and looks constantly to others for guidance. This leads to such problems as lack of assertiveness skills, under-achievement, and excessive reliance on others in relationships."
Thankfully our worth comes from God. Psalm 139:16-18 (the Message) says:
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.
Believe it or not, number one resonated with me as well. If only there were an easy way to move the reality of the scripture passage from head knowledge to heart knowledge. I'm working on it.
ReplyDelete~JRo