Do You Like Yourself?

This video is worth watching.....I found it fascinating.  This talk really hit home with me.  One of the things on my happiness list was self-esteem.  Self-esteem is necessary to be happy.  I never really though about how this poor self image problem is epidemic in the US.

Poor self-image can come down to four damaging self-conscious emotions:

1. Shame - desire to hide something you think it wrong
2. Guilt - desire to repair bad action for which you feel responsible
3. Envy - the desire to destroy what someone else has that you can't have
4. Jealousy  - the desire to compete with others to have what they have

One common thread of these emotions is comparing yourself to others -- another taboo on the happiness list.

I think shame is probably the most common problem emotion among gay men born before 1985.  It was probably the early 2000's when society started to be more accepting of gay people.  Prior to that it was far less accepted, so it's likely most gay men now older than 35 have experienced some feeling of shame.  Another blogger brought up the word "shame" to me a few years ago and how it connected to homosexuality.  At the time I really didn't connect all the dots.