I Feel Like No Woman Is Attracted To Me: Low Self-Esteem And How It Impacts Dating

Most people find confidence to be a very attractive trait in potential partners. Self-confident people visibly show they are comfortable in their own skin and believe in themselves, which may come along with other positive attributes, like stability, social skills, and good mental health. 

However, just because you have low self-confidence does not mean that people find you unattractive.  You may be misreading what other people think about you. If you experience low self-esteem, your perceptions might be inaccurate, and your ability to date successfully could be impaired.

What is low self-esteem?

Self-esteem typically falls into two camps: high and low. Someone with high self-esteem thinks well of themselves, exhibits confidence, and can usually navigate the world with greater ease and comfort. Conversely, signs of low self-esteem include having trouble navigating friendships, romantic relationships, and the workplace.

Low self-esteem can manifest in several different ways. For some, low self-esteem shows itself as being guarded, jumpy, and unsure of yourself. For others, low self-esteem means always putting yourself in the center of attention to find someone who can see and appreciate you, or excessive social media use. Low self-esteem shows itself differently from person to person and may even demonstrate different traits from day to day.

What causes low self-esteem?

Several things can create, maintain, and further encourage low self-esteem. Childhood trauma, perceived physical flaws, existing anxiety and other mood disorders, eating disorders, neglect, bullying, and disabilities can all negatively impact your self-esteem and make you feel as though you have little to offer others. 

Low self-esteem might occur after a single instance of bullying or could be the product of life-long poor treatment. Low self-esteem might develop due to societal pressures to look, speak, and behave a certain way, despite difficulty doing so. Existing in a space that in any way deviates from the norm can create low self-esteem, as well as it can create feelings of ostracism and inadequacy.

Can you treat low self-esteem?

Low self-esteem can harm both mental and physical health, making many people wonder if there’s anything they can do to improve their self-esteem. 

In short, yes, there are many ways you may be able to raise your self-esteem. Therapy, lifestyle changes, and thought process changes can all help improve self-esteem. If you are experiencing low self-esteem, finding the motivation to change it can be challenging. Nevertheless, there are effective ways to improve self-esteem. 

In many cases, one of the best ways to treat low self-esteem is to interrupt the thought processes and patterns that lead to thinking poorly of yourself. Going through this challenge is usually accompanied by a host of negative self-talk, ranging from your appearance to the very worth of yourself as a human being. Improving the way you look at, speak to, and care for yourself is the primary line of defense in treating and overcoming low self-esteem and all that it encompasses.

Lifestyle changes might also help with self-esteem. Enacting self-care routines, eating healthy, whole foods, journaling, meditating, and exercising can all help boost your mood overall, leading to greater self-esteem. While it is certainly possible to take care of yourself and still find yourself saddled with low self-esteem, it is far more difficult to speak poorly to and of yourself if you consistently show yourself kindness, compassion, and care.

How self-esteem impacts dating

Because self-esteem can influence the way you interact with others, it plays a significant role in your dating life. Self-esteem can lead you to see or feel rejection when it is not present, make you more likely to start fights, and make you feel as though you must leave before you are abandoned. The past rejection that has altered your perception of yourself can worm its way into your dating life, too, as you might find yourself repeating old patterns or falling into the same behaviors that occurred when you were rejected. Low self-esteem can essentially stunt the progression of your relationships and can lock you into unhealthy habits. In general, impacts of low self-esteem include the following:

1. Fosters unhealthy habits

Low self-esteem fosters unhealthy habits because it forces you to focus inward rather than viewing yourself and your situation as objectively as possible. Every tiny interaction can feel loaded, painful, and confusing. For example, when your partner texts you “hey” – instead of their usual “hey!” – you might find yourself worrying for hours that you’ve done something wrong or that your partner is on their way to breaking up with you. Jumping to the worst possible conclusion is an unhealthy habit that can invite other negative behaviors.

2. Encourages poor communication

If you are driven by fear of being left, and the fear of being inadequate plays a large role in your life, you may fear honest, open communication. When you begin to hide or keep things close to the belt for fear of rejection, you are doing yourself and the person you are dating a huge disservice; intimacy, connection, and bonding cannot exist between two people who are not honest with one another.

Poor communication can involve many different factors, including dishonesty, stonewalling, blaming, shaming, and mocking. While many of these unhealthy communication patterns might initially seem like willful manipulation, they are often the panicked coping mechanisms of someone with low self-esteem, who might feel they must belittle others to keep them around. This type of communication can fracture relationships and prompt the onset of low self-esteem in others.

3. Creates false feelings of rejection

Low self-esteem can make everything seem like it is about you. Every time you walk past someone who laughs, you might internalize that laughter. Whenever you see your partner enjoying themselves with someone else, you might think you are not good enough and should disappear. Whenever your partner has a bad day or is in a foul mood, you might immediately assume you are the source of those feelings and begin to retreat from your relationship. Constantly feeling rejected can make keeping a personal relationship difficult.

4. Encourages abandonment

People with low self-esteem often abandon potential partners before they, themselves, are abandoned. Low self-esteem is often accompanied by a pattern of pushing people away before getting close to guard against pain and rejection, which can make the partner feel alienated, unwanted, and unloved, leading to rejection. This kind of behavior creates a painful cycle within dating – or may mean that you avoid dating altogether to avoid being left behind, getting hurt, or feeling rejected. While dating is not an absolute necessity in life, most studies demonstrate that healthy relationships enjoy longer life spans and greater contentment in general.

Improving self-esteem to improve dating

Dating is a difficult process in and of itself, without the addition of low self-esteem convincing you that attracting someone is practically impossible. Adding low self-esteem can make dating an anxiety-riddled exercise, replete with fear, uncertainty, and confusion. Low self-esteem is not merely an unfortunate personality trait; it can erode the foundation that relationships are built on, and it can erode your ability to trust yourself and others. In a romantic relationship, that usually spells trouble and tumult.

One of the greatest assets to your mental health is a professional, such as a therapist or counselor. With the help of a trained professional, you can begin to disrupt and unravel negative self-talk, inaccurate self-perceptions, and flawed ideas about yourself and where you fit in the larger scheme of humans and relationships. Although past rejection, childhood pain, and feelings of inadequacy might have convinced you that you are incapable of attracting someone or that you are not in some way valuable to the dating scene in general, this is low self-esteem talking, not the truth. The two are often easily mistaken for one another but are not the same; understanding that your low self-esteem is a critical wound in need of healing is one of the best ways to leave it behind.

Studies have found that online therapy is just as effective as in-person therapy in many situations, and it allows you to meet with a counselor online from the comfort of your home. The therapists from Regain.Us are equipped to deal with mental health issues that run the gamut, including low self-esteem, past trauma, and unhealthy patterns of behavior, all of which can benefit from talk therapy and lifestyle interventions. See what others have to say about their experiences with Regain counselors: 

Counselor reviews

“I don’t know what I would have done without Harry. I was in a super low place and I was not sure what my problems were or how to solve them, but he was able to help me get to the bottom of my problems and work through them. Today I am happy and feeling like myself again. He was so easy to talk to and worked with me whenever I needed him. Even on vacation he took time to call me and talk through whatever I was going through. I would highly recommend him.”

"My experience with Priscilla has been immensely helpful in better understanding myself and providing me with the tools to see my life and relationships with more clarity and compassion."

Takeaway

Low self-esteem can impact not only how you see yourself, but how others see you. A professional Regain relationship counselor can help you overcome low self-esteem and the mental health concerns that often accompany it. Reach out to get started today.