Great post Jane. I think at this time in our lives we have the luxury of being able to look back and evaluate where we have been, the struggles we have conquered, the mountains we have climbed, what we have achieved personally, and what we want to acheive with the rest of our lives. This little exercise on it's own can be a wonderful boost to our self esteem as we reflect on our acheivements over the years.

I believe our self esteem should be nutured daily as it can be so fragile at different times in our lives and can be so difficult to build up once someone, or events in our lives have cut it down.

It is interesting to see that there is a 'childhood' theme already starting to surface here in our responses. I too was effected by this time in my life. As a child I think we are particularly suseptable to comments and actions from adults, and they can impact greatly on us for many years, if not for the rest of our lives if we allow it.

If I could give one 'self esteem tip' that has had the greatest result in raising my self esteem - I would say 'choose very carefully who you hang out with'
Over the years I have hung out with the best, and not so best of society, and the best are streets ahead of the rest. The best people will nuture your self esteem by expressing their appreciation, by supporting your goals, by encouraging you, by giving you a pat on the back, by getting excited with you, by telling you that you've done a great job, etc ...... The others wont. It's easy to spot the difference and your self esteem will thank you for it.