Low self-esteem is often attributed to those who don’t stand up for themselves, avoid seeking promotions that they deserve or fail to establish interpersonal relationships. Although these individuals do often suffer from self-esteem issues, they aren’t the only ones.
By society’s standards, gregarious outgoing individuals who are the life of the party seem to have it all together. However, in reality these individuals can also suffer from low self-esteem, which results in self-destructive behavior that is concealed by their vivaciousness.
How Low Self-Esteem Affects Extroverts
Those with low self-esteem rely too much on how they feel about themselves at any given moment to define their overall view of themselves. Individuals who are outgoing but have low self-esteem crave the compliments of others about how well they are dressed or how well they performed at a task. When these compliments don’t come, the person feels like something is wrong with them and depression and anxiety set in. This is true even if no other negative event occurs. Even when these individuals receive positive compliments, the feelings of elation are temporary and they immediately begin looking for more validation.
Symptoms of Low Self-Esteem
A common misconception about individuals with low self-esteem is that they take out their frustrations on other people, such as bullying. In reality, most people with low self-esteem treat themselves badly rather than other people. For example, they may exhibit behaviors such as compulsive shopping, repetitive cosmetic surgeries and excessive drinking. These behaviours offer temporary solutions but have detrimental impacts on other areas of their lives.
Low self-esteem can impact an extroverts personal and professional lives. In their professional lives because of perfectionism, procrastination, competition and even burn-out. In the context of personal relationships, extroverts with low self-esteem often exhibit controlling tendencies or seek constant validation which drives partners away.
Changing Negative Self Perception
Many extroverted individuals don’t realize that low self-esteem is at the heart of their struggles. In fact many classify their destructive behaviors, like social drinking or competing to get ahead, as positive and thus don’t seek treatment. It’s only when their lives get out of control that they seek counseling as a last resort. Therapy can help these individuals when they find the right person to work with by changing limiting and negative emotional beliefs into positive ones.