Feelings of worthlessness may come at any point in your life, everybody feels worthless sometimes, but it is hard to deal with when thoughts of worthlessness persist. Nevertheless, if you unexpectedly feel like you cannot do anything right or like you are not deserving of the things you have in your life, which may also create a lack of self-confidence in yourself.
Research conducted at Seoul National University showed that feelings of worthlessness could have a major negative impact on mental well-being and are strongly associated with a lifetime suicide attempt in adults who registered severe depression and had endured trauma(GoodTherapy.com ). The study found that, among the signs of depression, worthlessness had the highest correlation with a life-long suicide attempt. In this condition, people begin to lose hope for the future and find it difficult to appreciate any part of life they tried and failed to find answers to, which leads to fear that, they will continue to feel depressed forever. Although this is a miserable situation to be in, the good thing is that you can overcome it. It needs effort and dedication to resolve worthlessness but that is feasible. A survey by Dr. Aaron Beck revealed that over 80 percent of depressed people expressed dislike for themselves(PsychCentral,2020).
Before checking ways to overcome worthlessness, one must know how worthlessness may present in different ways and an individual might experience it differently.
- People may have negative thoughts about oneself
- Increase in social anxiety
- Absence of life meaning, a declining value in life
- Having Suicidal thoughts
- Withdraw from relationships
- Increase in alcohol or drugs consumption
- Facing difficulty in expressing emotions
- You may feel like everyone is against you
- Neglect self-care such as activities of daily living, such as showering, eating habits, and bad sleeping pattern.
Here is the list of things you can do to make it better:
Give thought to when you hit the lows
When you find that you are not having a fantastic day, week, or month, pay attention to what s going on in your brain. It will take time to build the ability to understand your emotions, but with practice, you should be able to realize that your loss of self-confidence is just a feeling in your mind, so you will start to do something about it. A perfect way to learn and be respectful of your emotions is through mindfulness.
Acknowledge your achievements
Recording your everyday successes focuses the brain on how a person completes a goal, rather than being purposeless or meaningless. The brain can carry this knowledge away and start changing the I m useless mentality to I m a deserving individual.
Maintain and improve relationships
If there are people in your life you wish you were closer to, take charge and make this possible. Offer ideas, be in touch, and stick to the decisions you make.
Find a hobby
It may sound simple but it works the magic and is one of the best remedies to help you stop feeling worthless. If you find an activity that you like, you will practice it and before you know it, you will be an expert at it.
As seen here, there are varieties of things you can do on your own to boost your self-esteem and make you feel good. However, that low self-esteem is one aspect of a larger collection of problems that can be very difficult to tackle on your own.
If you feel that, you are unable to resolve the root issues of this feeling, you may get benefit from the services of mental health providers. A qualified and knowledgeable therapist will help you recognize and resolve problems that underlie poor self-esteem and make you feel worthless on the journey of life.