Do you find it hard to accept compliments? A psychologist outlines the hidden signs you might have low self-worth

Identifying that you are lacking in confidence isn’t always an easy discovery to make but it’s one that is pretty simple to initially identify. Low self-worth, on the other hand, is a little trickier to scope out. 

The crucial difference between the two is that self-confidence is how confident you are in your ability or skills, while self-worth or self-esteem relates to how you feel about yourself. However,  figuring out the latter can help us to start building ourselves up from the inside and out and creating a stronger self-belief (because we are all totally worth it).

The question is, how do we spot the signs? Well, luckily, clinical psychologist Dr Michaela Dunbar has taken to Instagram to help people identify these struggles of low self-worth which can go unnoticed.

In the post, which spans nine slides, Dr Michaela breaks down seven signs of low self-worth, starting with being indecisive and second-guessing “even the smallest of decisions”. The post has already received over 13,000 likes and has been flooded with comments, from predominantly women, suggesting that they identify with the hidden signs outlined. “Uh oh. I have all but one of these going on 😬,” wrote one, while another added: “😢😢 I feel so seen.”

So, what are these signs? Well Dr Michaela says that one of the seven signs of low self-worth is avoiding speaking out in meetings and groups, along with engaging in negative self-talk, saying things like ‘I’m so stupid’ a lot.

In the post, she also adds that downplaying your strengths and dwelling on your weaknesses can be a sign of low self-confidence and not feeling worthy of good things in your life is another clear indicator of this.

Lastly, the psychologist writes that not believing when people pay you compliments and identifying as a perfectionist are two further signs of low self-worth. 

If you identify with any of the hidden signs of low self-worth, you’re not alone, as the comments on the post suggest, and it’s important to know that healing from entrenched low self-esteem is a journey. As one follower put it: “…low self-esteem is that it is woven in with our sense of self. That’s why healing is so challenging. To heal from this wound we must make peace with an aspect of who we think we are dying. The beauty is, as we do, a new self is free to emerge.”