I've always had my suspicions about this as well. I mean if I feel good about my self, but other people around me don't (which could be a result of their own esteem issues etc. etc) then, should how I feel about my self matter? I mean in a social situation where I have the freedom to remove my self from certain people's presence, this solution is obvious. But there are situations in life when avoiding people is not option. Say for instance a job, where a supervisor or superior, who holds a position that can determine your success on the job. If for what ever reason despite your obvious, and demonstrated competence, this persons adopts a dislike for you (which, needless to say, is the result of their lack of self esteem) and is unjustly critical of your performance, and limits your ability to advance in your career, and gain a desperately needed increase in pay (which could help your self esteem) When situations like this arise, which they realistically do, what difference does how you feel about self make?

Obviously, you could find another job, but often there can be limited options for this. You could just quit, but then you would sacrifice the income which could then lead to other issues.

This point I am trying to make is that a person's self esteem can seem trivial, when other people's of your self have an effect on your self esteem.

You could have self esteem and live a isolated and solitary life, without interacting with other people who may not share the positive feelings you have about your self. But what would that mean?? Or you could behave in a way that would compromise your own self esteem, but would win the esteem of other people. There is a relationship here.

I don't know, but sometimes, how you feel about your self, wether good or bad, seems secondary to other factors......????