Self-esteem, for me, is just being able to center myself; know who I am and where I'm coming from and not be so concered with what someone else is doing.

It's not so much "remembering" I'm a great friend, hard worker, etc. as it is being aware of my personal resources; that I can count on intelligence, humor, creativity, curiosity and other traits. When things feel like they aren't going so well, I can stop and "check my heart" (as my T taught me to do) and get recentered so I know what I want and what's next for me.

I'm going out of town next week for a week-long, group project and it has gotten stressful getting ready, relationships are fraying a bit and we're getting on one another's nerves, etc. I got snapped at (for being helpful) and overstepped someone else's boundaries (making sure they understood what to do) so I've stepped back and decided on my own course of action to take within the group. I'm still going to be the same old, helpful :-) team player but a little quieter and more concerned with what I, specifically am supposed to be doing instead of worrying so much about the team as a whole; that's not my job. I'll still volunteer for things but wait until volunteers are asked for instead of looking for what needs to be done, pointing it out and working on it. It appears not everyone agrees with what needs to be done or how to do it :-) I have been doing most of the work up until now so I'll just do a little sitting back and let others pick up some slack. But to me, self-esteem is being able to re-assess what's going on around you relative to yourself and your goals and not get down on yourself if "corrections" are needed.