Our beliefs about ourselves are the result of our early experiences. If our early experiences were negative, they caused us to build a set of negative beliefs about ourselves that resulted in us having low self-worth.
Most of us have experienced at least some of the following.
We were mistreated, punished regularly in an extreme or unpredictable way, neglected or abused.
We were constantly criticised or had our weaknesses pointed out to us on a regular basis.
We felt we didn’t fit in to our family or school, perhaps because of a brighter sibling or because our talents weren’t valued.
We were teased or ridiculed by our peers for the way we looked or acted.
We bore the brunt of our family’s distress even though it wasn’t directly related to us, eg. death or illness of a family member.
Our family was seen to be different in some way or socially unacceptable.
We didn’t receive enough praise, encouragement or attention. Perhaps our parents were emotionally distant.
Repetition of similar experiences results in us creating a set of core beliefs about ourselves. As adults we might question whether these negative beliefs are valid, but as children, we were too emotionally immature to understand that it was our parents, caregivers and peers that suffered from low self-worth, and we were just on the receiving end of their issues.
Comments