Table of Contents
How is an individual’s identity and self-esteem linked to emotional and spiritual wellbeing?
Knowing who we are, accepting ourselves and believing we have value, is a very important part of our well-being. In other words, having a positive sense of our identity keeps us happy and well. Having an identity can give you a sense of belonging, which is important to your wellbeing and confidence. You might make friends with others who have similar interests to you. This will make you both more optimistic and also more open to people from different backgrounds. The more we indulge in others lives, looking a perfect images of others, we tend to feel more worse about ourselves, questioning our self worth. Due to these negative social impacts, we start to engage with unhealthy habits mentally and physically. Having good emotional health affects our capacity to manage, communicate, and form and sustain relationships. It also gives us resilience to cope with change and major life events such as the birth of a new baby, bereavement, job loss or divorce.
How are an individual’s identity and self-esteem linked?
Identity and self-esteem are closely related and are very important to good mental health. Your sense of identity has to do with who you think you are and how you perceive yourself. It has to do with your sense of self-worth and how you define yourself. Self-esteem is how you value yourself. Understanding your identity and including emotional identity has a positive impact on your overall well being. Research shows people who have established their identity are in touch with their emotions, making them more resilient and less likely to be depressed or anxious. Self esteem is about your self worth and how you feel about yourself. If you have low self esteem, it means you are probably low on confidence, more likely to see things in a negative light. If your self esteem is high then you’re better at self love and more positive about life in general. Self-esteem has a direct link to our mental health and our quality of life. Low self-esteem contributes to feelings of depression and anxiety, as well as making poor choices for ourselves, whether that be having poor relationships or a job that makes a person unhappy. The stronger their identity, the more aware individuals appear to be of their strengths and weaknesses and the stronger their self- esteem. Conversely, the more diffused this identity structure, the more confused individuals seem to be and the weaker their self-esteem. Body image and self-esteem directly influence each other and a person’s feelings, thoughts, and actions. If a youth doesn’t like their body or a part of their body (poor body image) it is hard for them to feel good about their whole self (positive self-esteem). The reverse is also true.
How is self-esteem affected by emotional wellbeing?
Someone with low self-esteem has negative feelings about themselves, believing that they are not worthy of love, happiness or success. With research linking low self-esteem to mental health issues and poor quality-of-life, this is a potentially dangerous way to live. According to the American Psychological Association, having high self-esteem is key to positive mental health and well-being. High self-esteem matters because it helps you develop coping skills, handle adversity, and put the negative into perspective. Self-esteem is how we value and perceive ourselves. It’s based on our opinions and beliefs about ourselves, which can feel difficult to change. We might also think of this as self-confidence. Your self-esteem can affect whether you: Like and value yourself as a person. Their findings show that people with high self-esteem generally have more success at school and work, better social relationships, improved mental and physical health, and less anti-social behavior. And, these benefits persist from adolescence to adulthood and into old age. What are the 4 components of self-esteem? Your self-esteem is made up from four attitudes you have about yourself: your confidence, your sense of identity, feeling a sense of belonging and being self-assured in your abilities. Such loss of identity can result in increased levels of generalised anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, a loss of self-confidence, social anxiety, isolation, chronic loneliness, all of which threaten our ability to connect with other people.
What is the link between identity and self-esteem?
Identity and self-esteem are closely related and are very important to good mental health. Your sense of identity has to do with who you think you are and how you perceive yourself. It has to do with your sense of self-worth and how you define yourself. Self-esteem is how you value yourself. Self-esteem impacts your decision-making process, your relationships, your emotional health, and your overall well-being. It also influences motivation, as people with a healthy, positive view of themselves understand their potential and may feel inspired to take on new challenges. In general, ‘identity’ is used to refer to one’s social ‘face’ – how one perceives how one is perceived by others. ‘Self’ is generally used to refer to one’s sense of ‘who I am and what I am’ and is the way the term is employed in this book. However, these are not dualistic constructs. Self-esteem may be an important link between chronic illness and disruptions in social relationships (Nicolson & Anderson, 2003). Individuals with low self-esteem may fail to preserve or form new social relationships because they are less likely to seek out social activities.
How self-esteem affect one’s emotional well-being?
If you have good self esteem, your feeling about yourself will generally be positive. You may have had difficult times in your life but you’ll probably be able to cope with them. You won’t internalise your thoughts and therefore these difficult times are less likely to have a long-term impact. For example, you likely have high self-esteem if you: Act assertively without experiencing any guilt, and feel at ease communicating with others. Avoid dwelling on the past and focus on the present moment. Believe you are equal to everyone else, no better and no worse. According to modern concepts, self-esteem is also defined as respect for one’s own value and importance, as a willingness to be a responsible person and to behave responsibly toward others. Self-esteem appears when a person begins to appreciate and highly value his/her qualities or traits. Self-esteem and self-confidence overlap, but they are different. Self-esteem refers to whether you appreciate and value yourself. Your self-esteem develops and changes as a result of your life experiences and interactions with other people. Self-confidence is your belief in yourself and your abilities.
What is spiritual wellbeing?
Spiritual wellbeing relates to our sense of life-meaning and purpose. It can include our connection to culture, community, spirituality and/or religiosity and includes the beliefs, values, mental models and ethics we hold. Research has shown that a greater sense of wellbeing relates to increased physical benefits, such as lower incidences of cardiovascular disease, stroke and sleeping problems, and with increased productivity and creativeness in both employment and personal lives4. Emotional well-being has been defined as an overall positive state of one’s emotions, life satisfaction, sense of meaning and purpose, and ability to pursue self-defined goals. Elements of emotional well-being include a sense of balance in emotion, thoughts, social relationships, and pursuits. In order to promote the individual’s wellbeing they need to be happy with as many aspects of their life as possible. If the individual thinks that something would help them to feel better; be positive, understanding, empathic and non-judgemental.
Why is self-identity important for the health and well-being of individuals?
For example, having a positive self-identity can help improve your mental health leading to greater confidence. On the other hand, a negative self-identity can lead to a lack of self-worth and spur mental health problems such as anxiety and insecurity. Recent research led by Erin Kaufman of the University of Utah suggests three components are important for self-identity. These are ownership of values, commitment to values, and self-worth. “Social identities provide lenses through which we perceive events and how they influence some of our most important beliefs,” Packer and Van Bavel say. “But they can also misdirect our attention and bias our judgements.” Identities play a vital role in the most personal and pressing concerns of our lifetimes. Research has found a link between an upbeat mental state and improved health, including lower blood pressure, reduced risk for heart disease, healthier weight, better blood sugar levels, and longer life. Research shows that many aspects of your identity and social status are big determinants of how healthy you are. Addressing discrimination, gender biases and barriers that prevent accessibility to necessary services, such as poverty and fair pay, are key for greater health and wellbeing for all citizens. Identity formation and evolution are impacted by a variety of internal and external factors like society, family, loved ones, ethnicity, race, culture, location, opportunities, media, interests, appearance, self-expression and life experiences.