There are plenty of self esteem activities and exercises that can help us improve our sense of self worth, when signs of low self esteem prevent us from enjoying our life to the fullest.
Working on even one or two of such activities and exercises regularly and consistently, can improve the self image we hold of ourselves, and that does wonders to our self esteem in the long run.
DO THESE ACTIVITIES REGULARLY AND CONSISTENTLY
Below are few ideas for free self esteem activities, or those that require relatively little monetary investment.
1. PREPARE A LIST OF YOUR POSITIVES
Prepare a handy list of your positives – positive traits, accomplishments, skills or feedback – whatever it is that you are most proud of. Positive lists are covered in greater detail in the self esteem worksheets section.
Read the list to yourself everyday, first thing in the morning. Don’t just read it – but visualize and spend a couple of seconds on each item in the list, savoring the pride that you may feel.
2. PURSUE ACHIEVABLE GOALS
Set achievable personal goals – on a daily, weekly or monthly basis – and work on meeting those goals in the allotted time. These goals shouldn’t be too easy that they don’t challenge you at all. At the same time, neither should they be so difficult that you can’t meet them in your set time.
Getting up in time to have breakfast at home, rather than in the car or skipping it entirely, can be your weekly goal. Or going out for running in the evenings, at least three times a week, can be your monthly goal.
Tracking the progress of your success on each goal, can help you stay motivated towards working on other goals.
3. DO THE THINGS YOU ENJOY DOING
Spend time doing things for yourself that you enjoy doing, or those that you are good at doing, at least few times a week.
Tasks that require using some of our physical and intellectual skills – like gardening, cooking or getting organized – give us a sense of pride and satisfaction in working and completing them, and that does its bit in giving a good lift to our sense of self worth and self esteem.
4. LEARN NEW SKILLS
The world is full of new things that we can learn everyday, and the feeling of accomplishment that accompanies successful learning of a new skill, is unmatched in terms of the boost it gives to our sense of self worth.
A new language or computer software, a new skill like carpentry or knitting, or a new ability like say, driving a manual transmission car – are few examples.
While this may not necessarily be a free self esteem activity, there are a lot of things that can be learned with minimal expense – by reading the how-to information from a local library or internet, or taking a free course in the local community college. Learning new things is a good way to improve memory too.
5. REWARD YOURSELF
Every now and then, make it a habit of rewarding yourself – guilt free – for a good deed you have done, or for achieving a goal you have set for yourself, or for learning a new skill or task.
The “reward” does not necessarily have to stretch your budget. It could be a something simple like going to your favorite restaurant that you have been putting off. Or watching that movie at home that you really enjoy, but were unable to make time for, because “there were things to do”.
6. VOLUNTEER TO HELP OTHERS
Volunteering your time for charitable causes, or working without pay for a local non-profit organization, is one free self esteem activity that can provide us an immense amount of joy and fulfillment
Such a pleasure derived purely out of the feeling of helping out others in need is immeasurable, and needs to be experienced personally to appreciate the effect it can have on our self esteem.
7. SPEND TIME WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE
Make it a point to spend time regularly with people who have a positive outlook in life, and those that value you for who you are.
Spending time with people who you know genuinely like you and care about you, nourishes and nurtures your own image you hold of yourselves, and that is invaluable in perking up your self esteem.
The converse of this is to avoid those that you know to be typically mean, and seem to get their kicks in putting you down.
8. GET INTO REGULAR EXERCISE REGIMEN
And last but not the least, physical exercises are great way to feel better about ourselves, and improve our self image.
For one, our physique will improve which is a good reason to feel good about ourselves; but additionally, there is something about sweating it out, that in itself improves our sense of accomplishment and self worth.
Exercise is one free self esteem activity that has other side benefits – it is one of the recommended ways to deal with stress, and improving memory.
A regular regimen of some simple things like weights, push ups, aerobics or simple running can be done at home or maybe a nearby park, without necessarily joining an expensive gym.
REMEMBER.. YOU ARE GREAT JUST THE WAY YOU ARE
In addition to the above free self esteem activities, there are also plenty of general tips and ideas for improving self esteem on this website.
Consistently following the self esteem exercises and activities will provide the necessary push to having a positive self esteem in the long run.
