Would you like to know how to improve self-esteem to change your life and dysfunctional relationships? What does improving self-esteem have to do with difficult relationships? Everything! People in difficult relationships often have a poor self-image. Many people in difficult relationships are tolerating mistreatment as a result of a lack of self respect. People who don’t respect themselves don’t expect others to treat them with respect and conversely, those who tolerate mistreatment in relationships develop disrespect for themselves. Improving self-esteem changes lives and relationships.

“Esteem” means “to estimate.” “Self-esteem” means you estimate your “self.” You assess your worth or value, you form opinions about yourself, you have feelings about yourself, and you form a self-image. It is critical that your estimation of yourself is accurate, although for most of us, it is not. We have distorted self-images comprised of damaged images, projected images, reflected images, stained images, and false images. These images need to be analyzed and adjusted to match God’s truth about us to accurately reflect who God made each of us to be. We need to see the “truth in the mirror.”

You receive many messages about who you are from other people that form your self-image and as a result, your past and present relationships and life experiences have shaped your image of yourself. For you to change the dynamics of your difficult relationships, you must be able to strengthen and improve your self-esteem and self-image and be able to stand firm in who you really are with dignity.