"Love your neighbor as yourself"is a saying familiar to most of us. It means that you must have he ability to love and accept yourself in order to form and keep satisfying relationship with others self-esteem means accepting yourself for who you really are, and believing that you are indeed a worthwhile person who is deserving of love and respect from others. Self-esteem is our sense of how good we feel about ourselves. It is based on our judgment of ourselves, not on other people's assessment, but simply on our own. Our self-esteem is not dependant on our talent. Some very ordinary people feel very good about themselves, while other extraordinarily high achievers hold low opinions of themselves. Self-esteem is the primary key to long-term stress management. Why? The first three sources of stress are: predictable life event, unexpected changes and build-up of daily stresses, These are much easier to handle when we believe in ourselves, A positive, healthy self-esteem gives us the "hardiness"  to deal with the difficulties of life, and to see them as challenges to be met, rather than threats to be feared. The forth category of stress is entirely the result of a low self-esteem. It is the category of stress that is most common and tiring over the long run. This kind of stress cannot be overcome, or even changed, until the self-esteem problems that cause it are corrected. Learning to love yourself for who you are is the key to overcoming stress. Self-esteem comes form the self, and cannot be promoted by others. A person who feels that his self-esteem comes from the approval of those around him or her is bound to self-destruct , One cannot keep the level of "performance" required to please everyone else, especially if that performance disagrees with who you are and is simply a _ that makes you popular with the world. When the applause is gone, there is nothing left. Only those who can feel the strength of knowing who they are and those who can feel good about that will survive the stresses of life. Self-esteem is the basis of contentment and positive living. What is self-esteem?
A kind of positive lifestyle. The impression we have on other people. Our sense of how good we feel about ourselves. Our understanding of how we are seen by others.