I have had low self-esteem pretty much all my life. One of the things that helped turn it around was someone I dated last year. Dating her and knowing she loved and wanted me boosted my self esteem like nothing else.

So I guess my advice would be if you meet someone who accepts you at a time when you don't feel very good about yourself, then you'll know they're someone special.

Then there are others, like my therapist, who will say that you need to feel good about yourself before you can ever find someone else. Because if you don't then you will associate your self-worth with the person who made you feel good and if the day comes when that person leaves your sense of self worth may leave with them. This makes sense, but it's not factoring in that life doesn't work that smoothly.

It's ideal to think that we can feel good about ourselves all on our own without the approval of others but we need both. We need that sense of being wanted by someone. The only cure to loneliness is love and companionship.

But your self esteem can be improved in many ways. That being said, you don't have to be brimming with confidence to find someone. Sometimes they find you. Sometimes in the most unexpected ways. Just because it's stormy now doesn't mean that you aren't still headed for sunshine. I mean it.