Your eating disorder voice can cloud your perception of your body and affect your self-esteem. It’s important to remember that seeking support and treatment is a significant step towards recovery but does not automatically restore your self-esteem. It’s a journey that takes time, patience, and consistent effort.
By: Dawn Lundin
But what is self-esteem, and how do you know if you have low or healthy self-esteem? Understanding your self-esteem is a crucial step towards healing and recovery, as it forms the foundation of how you perceive yourself and interact with the world around you.
What Is Self-Estem?
Oxford Lerner’s Dictionary defines self-esteem as “confidence in one’s worth or abilities.” Susan Radzilowski, MSW, LMSW, and ACSW, categorizes it into three levels: low, healthy, and excessive. Your personality traits, health, family, and history primarily determine your self-esteem. It can also change as you age and go through life experiences, like recovering from an eating disorder.
What Are Signs of Low Self-Esteem?
Low self-esteem usually starts during childhood due to genetics, discrimination, family dynamics, trauma, stress, comparison, physical illness, pain, and mental illness. Some feelings that many people struggling with low self-esteem experience are:
- Worthlessness
- Feeling inadequate
- Struggling with perfectionism
- Experiencing a fear of failure
- Difficulty setting boundaries
- Fearing judgment or rejection
These feelings may keep you from trying new things or having new experiences, like starting treatment for your eating disorder. Research links low self-esteem to an increased likelihood of specific mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
What Are Signs of a Healthy Self-Esteem?
Don’t be discouraged if your self-esteem is low. Through recovery and treatment for your eating disorder, you can develop healthy self-esteem, which can look like this:
- Knowing and celebrating your identity
- Showing up as your authentic self
- Being vulnerable with those you love
- Active assertively (not aggressively)
- Setting healthy boundaries
- Seeking feedback and asking for help from trusted individuals
- Accepting failure as a necessary part of life
- Believing in your worth
How to Improve Your Self-Esteem
Taking steps to boost your self-esteem can help you navigate the highs and lows of your eating disorder recovery and whatever else life might throw your way. There are many ways to improve your self-esteem, including:
- Prioritizing self-care to help honor your inherent worthiness. Try getting enough sleep, setting boundaries, and making time for the activities you enjoy.
- Practicing self-compassion by respecting yourself regardless of the outcome of a situation.
- Rejecting perfectionism and setting realistic goals with compassion for yourself.
- Resisting comparison and reminding yourself that you are on your journey.
- Staying present with a mindfulness practice or limiting time on social media
Self-Esteem in Recovery
Using these techniques to improve your self-esteem may be difficult when working toward eating disorder recovery. You might discover a close link between your self-esteem and your eating disorder. Sharing these thoughts with your treatment team, who can use different techniques to help you build your self-esteem, is essential. Regularly using a gratitude journal, identifying your values, and focusing on your strengths are also helpful tools in your recovery and self-esteem-boosting journey.
References
“Self-Esteem.” Oxford Languages, https://languages.oup.com/.
“What Is Self-Esteem, and How Can I Improve Mine?” Therapist.com, 15 Dec. 2022, https://therapist.com/self-development/what-is-self-esteem/.
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Dawn Lundin (she/her).
Dawn Lundin, MS, RD is a registered dietitian and owner of Restore Ease Dietetics which is a virtual nutrition private practice that focuses on mental health + sports nutrition. She primarily with adolescents and young adults with eating disorders. She believes in meeting clients where they are at which provides a unique client-focused approach to recovery. She lives in Marquette, Michigan with her husband and three sons. As a family, they love to travel and spend time outdoors. She also enjoys mountain biking, running, cross-country skiing, being on or in the water, and knitting.
