Tackling Depression/Anxiety

[BubblyBabyBlue]

So I've been suffering from depression and social anxiety since 7th grade. I'm currently going to be a senior in high school. I realize that I have a life to live and I refuse to let this take over me. It has stopped me from doing so much, and I'm working on tackling it. So, I'm trying to find ways to build up my self confidence and/or self esteem. Can someone give me tips or ideas on how to boost confidence, oreven how you boosted up your confidence if you've have a self esteem problem? Thank you

Hi there!

Honestly, that's really fantastic to hear. I'm glad you've come to realize you have a life to live and want to tackle these issues. You definitely can tackle these struggles and you're welcome to reach out here for support throughout this, alright? Speaking of support, do you have friends or any trusted adult you can go to about this that you can talk to and seek support when in need? It's best if you don't fight it all alone.

Have you read any articles on these issues you deal with? TeenHelp has a lot of great and helpful articles for all different sorts of struggles and topics. You may find them helpful for what you're dealing with. Here's a link to an article about understanding self esteem. Understanding it can be helpful in learning ways to deal with it. There are also two other articles I'd like to mention that provide great points and how to see yourself in more positive ways. Click here, and click here for the second article. On the subject of articles, there's also a great one about coping with social anxiety at school (click here).

Overall, try putting yourself in situations and surrounding yourself with things you enjoy and that make you feel good. Immerse yourself in hobbies and activities you enjoy, work on improving skills like learning a musical instrument for example. Music is a great outlet and just an example of how if you put your mind and effort into something, you can become really good at it which will give you a huge boost of confidence. Other ways of improving self esteem and confidence would be to dress in ways that make you feel good about yourself. Go shopping perhaps? Try on outfits till you find one you feel confidence in. Same goes for shoes. Even do your hair and nails! Point is, do what makes you happy, what you're good at and accept flaws that you do have as no one is perfect, you know? We're all uniquely ourselves and have good and bad qualities. It just makes us who we are and it's important that we accept ourselves. This is simple but important and easier said than done, but don't be so hard on yourself. Allow mistakes and flaws.

You can do this and I'm glad you want to tackle these issues. I know it can't be easy but you can do this so stay strong and keep up the good work! I wish you luck.

[Celyn]

Hey

I think it's really great that you don't want to let depression and anxiety take over your life! What I find to be helpful for building self-esteem is to think of all your positive qualities and write them on post-it notes and stick them somewhere that you will see everyday.

Take care