Don’t Give Up Amid Low Self Esteem And Suicidal Thoughts.

This topic sounds scary. Having giving up, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts in one sentence is a very serious case scenario. Never the less all humans of all ages can suffer from feelings of low self-esteem, others at one time in life have felt helpless, hopeless and depressed till they almost gave up. At that precise moment, some contemplated suicide and it is for that reason, we ought, by all means need to address this kind of “malady.” We could have fallen victims at some stage in our lives or we know of a person who got pinned down completely and that they are only living because of an intervention from friends or some spiritual help.

When my friend Lewis proposed I do this topic this week, I got to seriously think about it. It comes barely two weeks after I wrote about rejection in my weekly editions of this blog. Perhaps, it is time we tackled such type of serious topics. Through such, we can provide help, hope and inner peace to lots of people with such challenges as self-esteem and suicidal tendencies. The world today is full of misery and suffering: people suffering from scary abuse of rape, mistreatment from family and friends, rejections, loss of loved ones and even physical battering and pain. These people get deeply disturbed in their minds and often get stressed up believing they don’t have a reason to live. Deeper into the thoughts about these unfortunate happenings is born depression and feelings of low-self-esteem. At this point, all hope is lost, the world is perceived as not able to offer any solace and suicidal thoughts creep in. If not taken care of, such people end up committing suicide.

James C. Overholser, Ph.D. from the psychology department at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, set out to examine the direct relationship between suicidal tendencies and self-esteem. His conclusion was not surprising since he realized that low self-esteem is very closely related to feelings of hopelessness, depression and suicidal ideation. Financial troubles, employment troubles, marriage and family troubles can be key contributors to reduction in self-esteem. Lack of sense of belonging and feelings that one is a burden especially the older people can also affect self-esteem.

Lewis jokingly hinted on me that no one ought to commit suicide now because the SGR loan is a collective unpaid debt. Each of us has a part to play towards its repayment. All of us have an obligation to pay it. In other words, every life is very precious. There is no person who ought to feel that they don’t matter at all, life is God given and is only God taken. Yes, we ought to have control over our lives but we don’t have any power to take our lives in any way. We can have strength to face all challenges in our lives by choosing to master our circumstances instead of being just victims.

The good news is that self-esteem can be reclaimed. It begins with our own initiative as a person and as a support to other people. Once you realize a person has suicidal thoughts, refer them immediately to get help. This could come in two ways; medical and professional attention. These seeks to offer emotional and psychological support such that through coaching, the individual can get to have their self-esteem rebuilt.

Secondly, when addressing such people, always use positive words a lot and often than not encourage them. Give such people hope while adequately helping meet their needs and desires; only those that are not harmful though. The greatest help perhaps you can offer is that of time and showing such individuals compassion. Listen to them at personal level. Over them solace and at the helm of it all, give them spiritual nourishment.

Thirdly, the individual ought to be made to understand that they need to have compassion for self and acknowledge their daily struggles. Let them not be hard on themselves. Self-critical people often get to have low self-esteem and lose of hope when they fall short of their objectives as noted by Kristin Neff, a self-compassion researcher. In a nutshell, as the individual suffering from low self-esteem, he/she must show initiative towards accepting themselves, towards accepting medical and professional help and towards meeting the objectives of the help they get.

Lastly and perhaps most valuable is spiritual help and nourishment, this is the most important part for help to such people. Sometimes we cannot find inner peace that surpasses human understanding in people. It comes from God. Getting such people to accept and submit to God fully goes a long way to help them overcome hopelessness. The next thing closest to people’s hearts after families is spiritual relations. Spiritually helping and encouraging those suffering and have lost hope will help them overcome. They only need to understand that they can overcome all things through Christ who strengthens them. This is the greatest healer of all stresses, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts.

We can help a person overcome low self-esteem, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts by applying the principles highlighted here among others. We can also refer such people to a person who can help. By doing so, we could have saved a life and done a noble cause for humanity.