Good afternoon!

Yes, we sometimes "awaken" to ourselves and where we really are mentally and emotionally when we attempt to step into the arena of where we would really like to be.

The wonderful thing is you have taken the first step, which is your conscious awareness of your emotional state.

Second is the step to come here and expressing it and asking for a degree of clarity and guidance.

Good for you! That in itself takes great stride and courage. Keep up the good work, you are worth it!

next, your question was accurately posed, "when do we stop using the low self esteem card as an excuse?"

Excellent question! And great insight!

Your key, as my associate Terri has spoken well upon, is to realize within yourself your worth.
I agree with working on your positive qualities list.
Now what I would add to this is, to further your awareness of what it is or when it is that you begin feeling "less than."
For example, "I feel inadequate when I talk with a group of friends because they are well read."
So to remedy this feeling, 1) you can read more & therefore share more, 2) ask them more questions & then you are learning more from them & having more interaction and not feeling left out, 3) realize & state to yourself "I don't have to know everything to be loved & accepted."
Treat yourself as kindly as you would treat others.

Next, be aware of your self talk. In otherwords, if you make a mistake, do you internally call yourself names and degrade yourself? Or do you tell yourself, that is okay, I will do better next time or even laugh at the mistake?

Sometimes these events are learned and then we adopt them as a "truth" that we repeat inside.
The beauty is we can change it!

With a bit more coaching you can even do more! Including how to coach yourself.

Think on these things & see when you are ready to move forward.

I can be found by looking in the "browse coach" links.

Peace & Blessings,

Dr. Josephine' (Jodi) Sheppard

Post edited by: Dr. Jodi, at: 2007/05/25 22:28