Self Respect

As a verb it means: respect and admire
When you esteem something you respect it and admire it because it has positive qualities which you value. Self esteem means how you regard and value yourself.
Having low self esteem would mean that you do not respect or value yourself highly. If you feel like this about yourself you will not feel in control and negativity may take hold of you. Your confidence may be low also and so you will not believe in your ability to be successful. You may be more likely to believe other people’s negative comments rather than trust your own opinions.
It is possible to have too much confidence and pride, but too much self esteem? I don’t think so. If you do not know your limits and have unrealistic confidence then you may be heading for a big fall. In the same way, pride can result in a large ego and if things do not go according to how you expect, you may really get hurt. As with everything else, you need balance and self esteem will give you that.

What else do you need to know?
There is more to self esteem than first meets the eye. On the one hand, someone may clearly lack confidence and have a low opinion of themselves, whereas, some people may appear to have confidence but their efforts to take charge and be in control is a cover for their low self esteem. Many of these people do not admit to themselves that they have any problem and continue to aggressively appear full of self esteem. There are many people who have leadership positions who deep down have low self esteem despite pretending to be someone who is in control and who makes decisions confidently. This will lead to a lot of stress and pain as the pretence is covering up the real person inside. You will see the true reality of this kind of person when they face real problems and when things go wrong. They will be unable to accept any criticism and demand others do what they say without question.
True self esteem is always positive and honest. When a person has true self esteem they are never anxious or angry and can always accept valid criticism. The confidence they have will help them most in difficult situations. They will be able to ask others for help if they need and will not be afraid to admit they don’t know everything. Confidence is genuine and is backed up with self awareness, that is, knowing our own limits. There is no need to be in control of everything and everyone. Allowing others to make decisions for themselves and giving responsibility to others while being responsible for your own life, that is true self esteem. Everything is in balance.
Relationships are such a big challenge so when things go wrong here the person who is truly OK with himself has the natural confidence to question himself and examine what needs to change. The difference that true self esteem makes is that this change includes personal soul searching and the ability to consider personal improvements that may be needed. Taking personal responsibility for one’s own behaviour and contribution to relationships and the ability to admit fault makes a huge difference.