Self-esteem crumbles when you fail or get rejected, but self-compassion is unconditional. It's based on your worth as a human being, not your achievements. Everyone struggles and falls short. Self-compassion lets you accept that without collapsing.
And the biggest problem with self-esteem is it's a fair-weather friend. I mean, you feel good about yourself when you succeed, when you perform, when you look the way you want to look, when people like you. But what happens when you fall a little short or you don't succeed this time, or maybe someone rejects you, right? Then what happens is your self-esteem deserts you. So self-compassion is about caring yourself. Again, it's much more of an unconditional sense of worth. So we are worthy of self-compassion, not because we've achieved anything, but just because we are a human being. You know, the moment a baby is born, we don't say, "Maybe once that baby goes to graduate school, oh, that baby is worthy of compassion." No, it's just part of our very humanity and it's rooted in our very humanity. And to be human does not mean to be perfect. It means to be flawed and to struggle. But to be human also means to try to, you know, reach your full potential. That's also part of humanity.
Reducing Regrettable Attrition in Organizations by Fixing the System, Not the People Reducing Regret
