Confident people of Reddit, can you teach me how to be like you?

Oh come on...you like him? You don't even know him. I mean, I know you mean well, but come on. This is right up there with people that say their "thoughts and prayers" are with people who have experienced tragedy--it's hollow and doesn't mean anything.

Furthermore, I've wanted to say this for a long time: the concept of self esteem, "loving yourself", and all that other pop-psychology garbage is bullshit. I don't believe that looking upon or thinking of yourself with feelings of admiration and pleasure is a normal state of mind. Which is why self-esteem is elusive for so many people. Which actually makes those people the realistic ones. And if you are someone that can truly say they feel that way about yourself, then I really think there's something wrong with you. It's almost heading into narcissistic/sociopathic territory if you ask me.

I think that actually, besides looking out for your own general wellbeing and health, I don't think it's a healthy/normal pursuit to think much about yourself one way or the other. I don't think one should give themselves much thought, period. Because guess what? You're always going to come out short and feeling inadequate about something.

The things that you're telling this person to do--finding celebrities they look like to feel good about themselves, trying to make a mental list of things they like about themselves, etc, is a crapshoot. Self-love doesn't exist in a vacuum; we gain self-esteem from what other people think about us! And that is what no one is willing to admit or believe.

But actually, you're admitting just that by telling this person to post nude pictures of themselves to get feedback from other people (wtf?)! So you're telling him that he needs to love himself, while also telling him to seek approval from other people. Which is it?

Like I said, it's best if you just don't worry about either.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent