General considerations about self-acceptance

Self-acceptance is a term that is often confused with self-esteem or self-love because of their similarities. Although the two are connected, self-acceptance says that you need to accept yourself with all your qualities and faults. In this way, you will be able to be at peace with yourself and move forward.

Those who accept themselves consequently have high self-esteem and love themselves, and their self-confidence and self-image are directly related to their level of self-acceptance. This is why it is so important to accept who you are, because it is through this that you will find balance.

However, do not confuse self-acceptance with conformity, because from the moment you are aware of your imperfections, flaws, and shortcomings, it is time to face them. Understand more about self-acceptance in the following reading.

Understand more about self-acceptance

The first step on the path of self-acceptance lies in understanding what it means and why it is so special. Your search for yourself will only make sense once you accept who you are.

What is self-acceptance?

Self-acceptance represents the act of accepting yourself, regardless of who you are. Therefore, the first step to achieve self-acceptance is in self-knowledge, because it is through this attitude that you get to know yourself and open your consciousness to new possibilities, reflecting on your actions and thoughts.

It is in this process of perception about yourself that allows changes to begin, leading to the recognition of your values, your qualities, and your defects. The importance lies in the recognition of the self, so you will have the ability to change when you experience a process of self-acceptance.

This is the best way to avoid creating expectations and prevent frustration, avoiding faulty behavior. It also creates the understanding that unforeseen things are common, they are part of our everyday life, but dealing with them can be easier when you realize your limits and act in a lighter way.

Why is it important?

You cannot escape yourself, the most you can do is ignore your personality traits by creating a character for yourself and conforming to life. At this point you have to face your defects, because without change you will be unable to evolve as a human being.

Through this experience you will be able to renew yourself as a human being, understanding your mistakes and being kinder to yourself, as well as preventing the emergence of intrusive thoughts that can affect your daily life.

Soon, it allows you to deal with yourself in a way that gives you greater motivation to follow your path. You will be aware of the choices that need to be made when you discover who you are, only from this will you find what you need to live a full life.

What is self-esteem?

The meaning of self-esteem in psychology refers to how a person views himself and his own value. In other words, you can appreciate your qualities, but at the same time belittle yourself for your shortcomings. It involves various beliefs about who you are and even your self-evaluations, which is occasioned through self-criticism.

Cultivating good self-esteem allows you to feel good about yourself, you value your potential, and you recognize your worth. In this way, you will feel more comfortable and secure to act, regardless of the context or the opinions of others. In other words, you become less influenced and more decisive about what you want.

What is the difference between self-acceptance and self-esteem?

There is a difference between self-acceptance and self-esteem. The former is the result of a process of self-recognition, leading you to the acceptance of your own image, your values, qualities, and defects. Self-esteem, on the other hand, can influence your self-acceptance, especially when you start a self-deprecating process.

Self-esteem works as a process of recognizing your qualities and defects, in this confrontation we can feel good about ourselves or the opposite. In this way, it is related to the way we see ourselves and feel in relation to our ego, becoming a reflection of how we perceive ourselves as individuals.

The false self-acceptance

The digital age began in the 90's with the advance of the internet and globalization, and these changes brought a series of benefits and challenges for the human being. After all, it configured the way we relate and expose ourselves, our lives became public and we started to face not only who we are, but also how others perceive us.

This new reality is quite recent and has changed our perception of who we should be, of who we truly are. Thus, what we show on social networks, for example, is not always consistent with our real life, creating internal conflicts and, as a consequence, feeding the false self-acceptance.

It exists when we start to believe in a false appearance in relation to what we are really feeling, and then it serves as a disguise for our difficulty in accepting who we really are, creating a facade in relation to our emotions and our self-esteem.

The Disadvantages of Lack of Self-Acceptance

This process of self-acceptance is important for us to develop as individuals, defining our limits and valuing our potentialities. The lack of self-acceptance brings a series of complications to the consciousness, find out more about this in the following reading.

Self-flagellation

A person who doesn't exercise self-acceptance can start a cycle of internal suffering that affects their perception of yes and causes an internal discomfort. At this point, they may seek an escape valve through self-flagellation, because they believe that in punishing themselves is the discipline for them not to make mistakes.

Feeling of guilt

Through recrimination of their behavior, the person develops negative feelings about themselves, avoiding problems because they don't believe they have a solution.

Feeling of inadequacy

This is a striking characteristic of people who lack self-acceptance. The feeling of inadequacy exists in a particular way, the individual develops a feeling of not belonging, preventing him from fitting into any kind of social group. Consequently, he ends up isolating himself and living a life dislocated from the environment and people.

Excessive self-demand

Self-acceptance is important to keep us alert about our actions and choices, the problem with lack of self-acceptance is when it becomes excessive. This behavior prevents the person from evolving, since nothing that is done will be satisfactory enough for him to awaken the fear of error.

When you go down this road, the pressure becomes aggressive and the activities to which you dedicate yourself become exhausting. In this way, an inability to appreciate your achievements and skills is generated, because they will never be good enough for you.

Ways to develop self-acceptance

Know that there are ways to develop self-acceptance that range from reflecting on your difficulties, to reducing excessive self-criticism. This healing process will put you in a position of self-knowledge that is important for you to be able to live a satisfying life. Read on and learn how to develop your self-acceptance.

Stop comparing yourself

Self-esteem is capable of influencing our process of self-acceptance, because it provides the stimuli that awaken our perception about who we are. With the advance of the digital age, exposure has become excessive, awakening an attitude that can be negative for the human being, depending on our level of self-acceptance, which is comparison.

When we compare ourselves to the other, we feel not only the need to evaluate what is different about us, but also the desire to be who the other person is.

Therefore, the first step in starting your self-acceptance process is to stop comparing yourself to other people, especially if it is negative. This way, you will be shielding your self-esteem and preventing the comparison from affecting you negatively.

Reflect on the difficulty in accepting yourself

To achieve self-acceptance will require you to break a series of habits and thoughts that are damaging your life. By reflecting on the difficulty in accepting yourself, you will be understanding the triggers that lead you to have derogatory thoughts about yourself, helping you to deal with them, and finding solutions to preserve your ego.

But, remember that it is important to find your blockages, but you have to avoid feeling guilty. Only in this way, will you be able to rationalize your problems in search of a solution.

Leave victimhood aside and take responsibility

Victimism is accompanied by feelings of guilt and excessive self-criticism, to avoid this it is important to accept the mistakes and understand that they are part of life. Becoming responsible for them will be fundamental for you to accept and resignify them, this will help you create mechanisms to move forward.

It is important to note in this process that mistakes do not define you, avoiding hurt and victimization will prevent self-deprecation and allow you to have more clarity of who you are.

Keep people around who do you good

Create a positive environment so that you can practice self-acceptance. Keeping good people around can help you with this, as they recognize your value and appreciate your presence, helping you with your self-esteem.

Invest in friendships that are positive for your life and that preserve your mental health, this will help you face the day to day with more lightness. Besides providing positive stimuli for your self-acceptance, you will develop a constructive perception of your being.

Identify your personality traits

This is one of the fundamental ways for you to achieve self-acceptance. But to identify your personality traits you will need to exercise self-knowledge. Through this process you will define your negative and positive traits, changing the way you see yourself.

Recognizing your personality will help you understand your behavior and thoughts, as well as provide a better relationship with yourself. If you have difficulty defining these personality traits, turn to someone close to you or a professional and they will be able to help you.

Look for ways to raise your self-esteem

Through the tips above you will find ways to raise your self-esteem, this is because you will recognize your qualities, values and achievements. By visiting them in your consciousness during a self-acceptance crisis, it will enable you to deal with yourself in a lighter way by slowing down any kind of intrusive thoughts.

You can raise your self-esteem by pursuing self-knowledge, writing about yourself, or approaching people who help you improve your perception of yourself. This attitude will enable you to overcome your challenges, recognize your values, your actions, and your work in a way that prevents disappointment.

Worry less about what others think

Paying attention only to what others think of you can be detrimental to your process of self-acceptance. By internalizing the opinions of others as your own truth, you stop focusing on who you really are, and you start living in search of pleasing others, ignoring everything that is good for you.

Therefore, it is important to worry less about what others think, since they are in a different context and have a different view from yours. Only you are capable of knowing how you feel and what is best for you.

Develop emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is another key piece for those who wish to achieve self-acceptance, as it will give you the ability to observe your emotions and understand what you are feeling. In this way, you will be able to deal with them without letting them negatively interfere with your health.

Therefore, the individual with emotional intelligence is able to react to situations that arise in life in such a way as not to become irritated by unforeseen events or self-deprecating. For, you understand your individuality and personality to the extent that you are able to maintain your well-being.

Go to therapy

Therapy enables you to dialogue with a professional, examining your thoughts and leading you to internal answers about yourself and resignifying your traumas and intrusive thoughts. This is an option for those who are not making progress in the quest for self-acceptance, especially if the above options do not work.

Through it you will have psychological support that will lead you by pointing out paths and attitudes that need to be treated by you, which makes this treatment efficient, because it will lead you to the answers to your problem faster.

Follow our tips and start your self-acceptance process!

Self-acceptance is a process that can be painful in the beginning, but as you find your own mechanisms to deal with yourself you will reach a point where your life will become more balanced. For this reason, it is important to identify your personality traits through the exercise of self-knowledge.

You have the answers you need within yourself, it is now up to you to face your blocks in order to seek a solution to your problems without resorting to guilt or victimization. For this, it will be very important to have people close to you, as well as to create a structure that favors self-acceptance.

Follow our tips and start the process of self-acceptance yourself, soon you will feel lighter about life!