10 Proven Strategies to Regulate Self-Worth

"If you read my posts on How Low Self-Worth Quietly Shapes Your Lifeand How to Reset a Low Self-Worth Default,you now have an understanding of how the pain of low self-esteem has compromised your capacity to feel free, joyful, and whole. And you are likely building awareness for how your brain clicks into a low self-worth narrative, by overthinking or generally being self-critical. The last piece of the puzzle is about how to manage your low self-worth emotions in the moment."

"Calm the body: Typically, the first sign a person is triggered occurs way before the thoughts and is a bodily, physical reaction. Build awareness for what happens in your body when low self-worth strikes. Sensations that might signal you've been triggered include your stomach dropping, heart beating fast, jaw tensing, thoughts spinning, and feeling frozen. Recognizing what your physical sensation is will help you level it off more quickly."

"Whatever the trigger, the response is usually one of shame that brings on stress along with alarming thoughts that make you feel unsafe or found out as bad, wrong, or different. When this happens, you can easily be overcome to the point that it is hard to do anything to help yourself improve the situation or get more data that might make you feel better."

Managing low self-worth emotions in the moment is essential for overcoming low self-esteem and developing self-efficacy. Triggers such as perceived failure, setbacks, or feeling less than others commonly produce shame, stress, and alarming thoughts that create sensations of being unsafe or exposed. Bodily reactions often precede thoughts, with signs like stomach dropping, rapid heartbeat, jaw tension, spinning thoughts, or freezing. Recognizing and labeling physical sensations, thoughts, and feelings enables quicker regulation. Practicing a few evidence-based strategies regularly reduces the impact of triggers, increases capacity to cope with setbacks, and fosters greater peace, joy, and freedom.

Read at Psychology Today