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Ask HN: Courses/resources to improve my self-esteem and believe in myself more?

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Re: Ask HN: Courses/resources to improve my self-esteem and believe in myself more?

#73
Bodybuilding. Seriously. Go to the gym and lift heavy. Lift daily. Spend 1.30-2 hours daily lifting weights. Start with a trainer if you have never done any competitive sports before. Fix your diet and eat a lot of protein.

I promise you that you will not recognize yourself in 6 months to a year. Both physically and psychologically.

IMHO a lot of issues we face in our times are because of the lack of exercise.

Re: Ask HN: Courses/resources to improve my self-esteem and believe in myself more?

#74
post #73

Bodybuilding. Seriously. Go to the gym and lift heavy. Lift daily. Spend 1.30-2 hours daily lifting weights. Start with a trainer if you have never done any competitive sports before. Fix your diet and eat a lot of protein. I promise you that you will not recognize yourself in 6 months to a year. Both physically and psychologically. IMHO a lot of issues we face in our times are because of the lack of exercise.

Don't want to post a shallow comment, but this 100%.

My life turned around just after 6 months of working out regularly. It's easy to improve self esteem when others see you in a much better light, and working out will make that happen. From physical transformation (no matter how small) to small dopamine highs you will get after putting in work.

Re: Ask HN: Courses/resources to improve my self-esteem and believe in myself more?

#75
General advice:

See more different therapists until you find one that works well for you. A good therapist in 2020 should be able to fix you up in a few sessions if they're right for you. Don't be afraid to explore weird things, who cares if it doesn't make sense if it works for you? "soul retrieval", "past life regression", etc...

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I can't give you specific advice over the Internet, but here's my personal recommendation based on my own experience: Neurolinguistic Programming.

Unfortunately, it's panned as pseudo-scientific, and many of its promoters and practitioners don't do much to help with that. However, from my POV, based on my understanding and experience, it's the only really rigorous psychological science.

For example, they developed early on an algorithm called "Five-minute Phobia Cure" (because it takes about five minutes and it cures phobias.)

I personally was cured of clinical depression in a single session of hypnosis with one of the founders of NLP. He has produced a book for the mass market: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3803577-get-the-life-you...

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What ever "low self-esteem" is, it has specific physical patterns: feelings in certain parts of your body that correspond to e.g. tensions in muscles and fascia. You can "get at" your "low self-esteem" directly and physically (without interpretation of it's "meaning" or "origin story" or any of that) by various means of e.g. massage, relaxation, Rolfing, Feldenkrais, Reiki, etc...

Remove the physical basis for the subjective feelings and you "cure" your "low self-esteem".

In the limit we have what W. Reich called "orgiastic potency", the natural and healthy ability of the body to let orgasm flow throughout the whole body, unimpeded by tensions and "blockages" ("character armor"). Reich claimed that in a person who has full "orgiastic potency, neurosis is impossible to maintain."

Feldenkrais also points out that, when the soma (body) has become fully integrated (proprioceptive is accurate, all unnecessary tension has been relaxed) enlightenment occurs (he doesn't make a big deal out if it.)

- - - -

(Honestly, I feel like a time-traveler from the future in re: therapy and such. Like McCoy in the save-the-whales Star Trek movie... "Dr. gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney!")

Re: Ask HN: Courses/resources to improve my self-esteem and believe in myself more?

#76
A good next step might be interacting with real people to get used to being supported.

Some comments say volunteering. I disagree. Volunteering doesn't force you to interact with people. It might not work for you.

Toastmasters, on the other hand, forces you to speak to others. Toastmasters explicitly trains members to be supportive and forgiving and to approach you to interact. Toastmasters is like a newbie environment that lets you build your confident. I'd recommend you give it a try.

Also, an evening club is generally more relaxing than a day club. So, start with that.

Re: Ask HN: Courses/resources to improve my self-esteem and believe in myself more?

#78
post #73

Bodybuilding. Seriously. Go to the gym and lift heavy. Lift daily. Spend 1.30-2 hours daily lifting weights. Start with a trainer if you have never done any competitive sports before. Fix your diet and eat a lot of protein. I promise you that you will not recognize yourself in 6 months to a year. Both physically and psychologically. IMHO a lot of issues we face in our times are because of the lack of exercise.

Totally agree with this. Getting a trainer is key if you are new - they take all the brain work out of it for you: so you just have to show up. They will also ensure your form is good, so you don’t get injured 2 months in (which happens when people lurch off the couch and into a 5x/week CrossFit regimen). If that’s cost prohibitive, read Starting Strength or check out 5x5 (five by five) for workout programming.

Regarding self-esteem: in addition to improving your physical appearance and general feeling of well-being, exercise also teaches you intimately how to use your will to push through problems/adversity, which builds self-confidence immensely.

Building yourself is also more rewarding than building any work project: nobody can take from you what you build for yourself, and you get out of it directly what you put in. How often can you say that about work?

Re: Ask HN: Courses/resources to improve my self-esteem and believe in myself more?

#79

I think you may find Albert Ellis's work valuable (he founded the Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy process, a cousin of CBT). He discusses self-esteem a lot in his work, particularly around the risks of both low self-esteem and high self-esteem. You may also find meditation helpful--particularly some kind of light noting practice (perhaps not Mahasi-style noting, but Shinzen Young's Unified Mindfulness/See Hear Fe…

For Ellis, see his classic New Guide to Rational Living. It's about observing the things you say to yourself and believe, and changing them to more positive things if necessary. Which is surprisingly simple and easy to do.

Re: Ask HN: Courses/resources to improve my self-esteem and believe in myself more?

#80
Perhaps related, but I'd be interested in resources that can help me appreciate/love myself more, since I've recently found out that subconscious self-hatred could very well be at the root of a lot of problems I've been dealing with, including anxiety. Many thanks in advance for any pointers.
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