Guest Blogger – Teacher/Writer Sean David Cohen:
“We grow up knowing more failure than success, in general. Most things we try as kids, especially in school, we have to fail ten or twenty times before succeeding even a few times. Professional sports, actors and the like are so highly glorified in the US that it’s hard to totally appreciate success when it comes, when we achieve it, and to cherish it’s feeling it brings. This should be our focus. As a former school teacher I made sure the students had more successes than failures. When we took pop quizzes they were rather easy, when we tried new things I made sure the attempts were “on their level” so they were not only challenged but enjoyed accomplishing tasks and soaking in experiences that were positive, not negative or frustrating. Yes, practice made perfect, but practice was a ton of fun. So now we speak on self esteem, that core principle and ethical “theme” of life, that driving force for learning, appreciating learning, and learning to be appreciated. Every individual is worth SO MUCH and can contribute to the warm feelings others get from being respected. With regards to respect – what you GIVE is what you GET.
So let’s now combine successes with self respect. We can call self respect self opinion too. We can call it self esteem. What do YOU think of you? I call on you to show respect for all people and you will know respect. Never let anyone take advantage of you, and always remember, you are the one in charge of your own focus in life. You can make it positive. Don’t let other people create your self esteem or try to break it. If you’re helping kids learn about self esteem, help them achieve more successes than failures, at whatever they do. Challenge them and reward them for success. Never punish or degrade for failed attempts at success. This is YOUR self esteem journey. Make it great.”
– Sean David Cohen, Educator and Writer
The Self Esteem Blog 