Hi everyone! Welcome or welcome back to The Teen Safe Zone, where it's safe for teens to be themselves! Today's post is something that has been on my heart for a few weeks now, and that is talking about self-esteem and self-doubt in teenagers. Self-esteem is the key to life because you won't thrive in life until you learn your worth. With self-esteem, you won't see yourself through everyone else's eyes because you'll be able to love and accept who you are by yourself. However, being confident in yourself can sometimes be difficult as an adolescent or just in life in general.
In today's post, I want this to be a motivation to everyone that you are worthy of whatever you desire in life. You are not overlooked. You do matter. However, that mindset starts from within.
Have you ever had a simple desire and then thought, "Why would that ever happen to me?" or "It'll probably never happen." or "Those things don't happen to people like me." Long before it could possibly ever happen for you, you're already premeditating that it won't happen to you. You let your own self-doubt keep you in a bubble, as if you'll always be "trapped" in the circumstances you are in right now. Sometimes we can be our own worst critics without even noticing.
Has anyone ever wanted to try something new but then you overthink that x,y,z could possibly happen, so you don't do it? You may have just missed a once in a lifetime opportunity, but because self-doubt and overthinking got to you, you let it slip.
These are just a few thoughts that can tie into self-doubt, and as we all probably know from experience, it's a terrible thing to have these thoughts circulating in your mind because it holds you back from so many things in life. When dealing with self-doubt and low self-esteem, many people turn to other people's "approval" because they don't feel "good enough" if they don't have someone else's approval.
Self-love starts from within, not through the approval of others, because when all of those people are gone, you are stuck with yourself and those self-doubting thoughts. It's almost like addictive partying; one day you may wake up from a party and feel humiliated about what you did the night before, so you do it again the next day to attempt to "forget" about it, and then it becomes a never-ending cycle and an addiction. Finding your worth through others is almost like this because you seek "approval" from others to distract yourself from your insecurities, but it's a never-ending cycle until you realize your worth. You have to learn how to deal with yourself and love yourself for who you are because those people who you look for approval from won't always be here to give you a pat on the back and say "good job."
Remember; we aren't living for society's approval. We are here to be the person God has called us to be. We are to see ourselves as God sees us: fearfully and wonderfully made. Why doubt yourself if the Creator has never doubted your worth? We make mistakes every single day, but it doesn't stop God's unconditional love for us. If God can forgive us for our one million mistakes, why can't we forgive ourselves for one silly mistake of ours? You're still breathing, right? This means that God isn't done with you. Another day, a new chance, a new chapter.
Your life isn't over because things aren't working out the way you want them to. You have your whole future ahead of you. There could be so many amazing things God has in store for you, but you have to have faith and believe that you are worthy to receive them. Trust me, I've been in this position before where I thought that my "silly" desire (s) were small and that it didn't matter. However, I'm learning that everything about you, whether big or small, matters to God. Don't be afraid to express yourself, how you feel, your desires, etc. to God, because they all matter. Just because humans may brush your problems off, God won't. God is your free therapist and can lead you better in life than any human therapist can. At times, it may feel like you are probably talking to yourself, but watch how much better you feel afterwards. God is listening to you. However, He will answer you when the time is right. God works in mysterious ways, but trust me, He's always on time.
Changing Your Mindset:
As mentioned before, in order to know your worth, you have to first change your mindset. Something that is helping me is to change my words of self-doubt into motivating words. Declare that these things will occur for you. Turn "It'll probably never happen." into "What if it does happen to me?" I occasionally get those thoughts, and sometimes without me even trying, my brain automatically thinks, "But what if?" I honestly think that it's God putting these little spikes of motivating thoughts into my mind from time to time to keep me focused. Sometimes when I'm having a bad day, I randomly get flashbacks of the day God spoke to me through using the bishop while I was in church back in 2019. Those words sometimes play through my head to keep me motivated and say that "God's not done with me yet."
So, anytime you experience self-doubt, remember that God's not done with you yet. I want this post to be like a friend letter that you can come back to anytime for motivation. I wish you all the best on your journey's of self-love and self-discovery! If you want to contact me about anything, please visit the "Contact Us" page on this blog where we can privately talk! NEW POSTS EVERY SUNDAY! - Lexi
Hi everyone! Just a quick update on why there wasn't a new post this Sunday: I've been kind of busy with planning for my birthday (which is Monday 🎉) that I didn't have time to write a post this week ... However I should have a new post coming this Sunday about the most important life lessons I've learned in my 15 years of life! I can't wait to share it with you all!
Thank you for using your blog to continue to inspire and motivate others! This came right on time!
"Why doubt yourself if the Creator has never doubted your worth?" This hits SO HARD! I wish more people would hear that quote because our perspective on life will most definitely be different!