feelings in on yourself rather than dealing with them. Your opinion of yourself will become ever lower as your sense of inadequacy increases. You will also cause problems for yourself in that others (particularly those difficult people) will either fail to notice you at all or will consider you a prime target. Perhaps You Believe in Saying What You Think Regardless of the Consequences?
Just stop for a moment and consider how you feel when other people act in such a way. Do you really want to cause others pain or distress?
Saying what comes into your head without considering the effect it will have on those around you will eventually turn others away from you. You are likely to end up believing that you are alone against the world. This is a sad enough feeling at any time but even worse if you realize that you brought it on yourself. You could find yourself trapped on a downward spiral of emotion from which it will be hard to emerge.
Know Your Personality Type
While conducting research into the effects of stress upon the heart, cardiologists Dr Meyer Friedman and Dr Ray Rosenman divided people into Type A and Type B personalities. They found that, even if work and living conditions were identical, Type A people were three times more likely to suffer from a stroke or heart attack, as these people were more likely to react aggressively to people and situations and therefore more likely to suffer from excess stress.
Check the lists that follow and see whether you incline more towards Type A or Type B. The ideal, of course, would be to fall somewhere in between the two. It can be fine to have a ‘laid-back’ attitude to life – but not if you constantly miss opportunities or irritate others because of it. And a certain amount of enthusiasm and ambition is laudable – but not if it causes you to ride roughshod over all and sundry.
These lists are meant to be a guide to whether you lean too much one way or the other. Don’t be concerned if you have a few of the Type A characteristics – it probably means that you are good at getting things done. But if more than half of them apply, it might be time to see what you can do to change some of your reactions to life – before you do yourself any real harm.
Type A Personality
Highly competitive
Has a strong, forceful personality
Does everything quickly
Anxious for promotion at work or for social advancement
Desires public recognition for what he has achieved
Is easily angered by people and events
Speaks rapidly
Feels restless when compelled to be inactive
Likes to do several things at once
Walks, moves and eats quickly
Is made impatient by delay
Is very conscious of time – thrives on having to meet deadlines
Is always on time
Has taut facial muscles and/or clenches fists
Type B Personality
Not competitive – at work or play
Has an easy-going, relaxed manner
Does things slowly and methodically
Is relatively content with present work situation
Is satisfied with social position
Does not want public recognition
Is slow to be aroused to anger
Can enjoy periods of idleness
Speaks slowly
Prefers to do one thing at a time
Walks, moves and eats in a leisurely way
Is patient – not easily upset by delay
Is not time conscious; tends to ignore deadlines
Is frequently late
Has relaxed facial muscles/does not clench fists
Why Are You as You Are?
Whatever your personality and however you react to difficult people, the pattern will have been set many years ago, probably in early childhood. People and events over which you had no control will have conspired – often unwittingly – to create the self-image with which you have grown up. And if you are someone who finds it impossible to stand up to difficult people or to handle them in a satisfactory way, your self-esteem is likely to be lower than it should be. The good news is that it does not have to stay that way. It is possible at any stage in life to improve your self-image and increase your confidence.
Let’s have a look at some of the most common reasons for a poor self-image and see whether you can relate to any of them.
The first people with whom you formed any kind of relationship were your mother and father (or those who stood in that position). From their attitude towards you and their opinion you will have formed a view about yourself and your ‘value’. Some parents, of course, are deliberately unkind to their children, inflicting mental, physical or emotional damage. Fortunately, however, such parents make up only a small minority. But it is all too possible for the kindest and most well-meaning of adults to inflict harm, too – although they would probably be shocked if they knew they had done so. Those who are over-protective, doing everything for their child and fighting all his battles, may create an adult who has learned to be so dependent that he is quite unable to stand on his own feet. Those who care and provide for their children but find it difficult to be demonstrative (possibly due to defects in their own upbringing) may cause those children to believe that they are unworthy of love and affection – unlovable in fact.
A small child will think that his parents know everything and are perfect in every way. If one or both of those parents does not show love and affection, the child will form the inner belief that he is unworthy of such love and his self-esteem will develop (or not) accordingly. Similarly, the adult who thinks he will spur his child on by telling him that he is ‘stupid’ or ‘could do much better’ will, in fact, demolish the poor child’s belief in himself and his abilities until he either refuses to try or sets about everything in so half-hearted a fashion that he is bound to fail – thereby reinforcing the already negative self-image.
There may be elements in a child’s upbringing that are no one’s ‘fault’ but that still have a traumatic effect on his belief in himself. If one of these ‘wonderful’ parents leaves home or is away for any length of time, a child will usually believe that he is to blame and that, had he been ‘better’, the family could have remained complete. I have had more than one patient, now adult, who can accept logically that he or she was not responsible for one parent leaving the family home but who still finds it difficult to come to terms
