4.7 • 6.8K Ratings
🗓️ 11 January 2019
⏱️ 5 minutes
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0:00.0 | I have no self-esteem. |
0:02.0 | I'm not saying I dislike myself, or that I have a problem with my self-image, and I don't have low self-esteem. |
0:09.0 | I'm just saying that I have no self-esteem at all. |
0:12.0 | Why? For the same reason that I have no pet unicorns. |
0:16.0 | Self-esteem is a fantasy. It's a meaningless fabrication that exists only in your imagination. |
0:23.0 | The dictionary defines a steam this way, to regard with admiration. |
0:29.0 | Self-esteem, therefore, means to regard yourself with admiration. |
0:34.0 | But is that how we should see ourselves? |
0:37.0 | If someone asked you who you admire, would you really want to answer, well, I admire myself? |
0:43.0 | Would that be a good thing? I would say no, emphatically. |
0:48.0 | I was hardly a precocious kid, but I think I realized this self-esteem thing was a racket as far back as junior high. |
0:56.0 | I remember when the guidance counselor at my school handed out a worksheet and asked us to rate our self-esteem on a scale of 1 to 10. |
1:03.0 | Meanwhile, kids in China were learning silly things like math and science. |
1:07.0 | Now, we're bankrupt and they own the country, but at least we all feel pretty good about ourselves. |
1:12.0 | In any case, there we were, facing the important task of arbitrarily quantifying our egos. |
1:18.0 | When I asked my teacher why I should have high self-esteem, she said, because you're special. |
1:23.0 | When I asked why I was special, she said, because you're you. |
1:28.0 | I found this in odd statement at the time coming as it was from the woman who just given me a D on my last math quiz. |
1:34.0 | Most of my classmates, though, quickly jotted down 9s and 10s. |
1:38.0 | Incidentally, some of them would grow up to become unemployed alcoholics, but I'm guessing if they could take that test again, they'd score themselves exactly the same. |
1:48.0 | See, that's the whole point of self-esteem. To be proud of yourself, even when there's no reason to be proud of yourself. |
1:54.0 | Of course, apologists will claim that self-esteem is simply about confidence, and that you need confidence to succeed in life. |
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