“I'm a total idiot!” How many times have you said something like that when you can't find your keys? Or consider “I'm such a buffoon!” Have you used that one when you accidentally knock over your water at dinner? Or how about “I can't ever get anywhere on time!” Do you say that when you're late for an appointment?
Sometimes such phrases are harmless. Yet they can be evidence that we don't like ourselves very much. They're often repetitions of what parents or other people in our lives have told us since we were young, and they could be true reflections of how we see ourselves. Such cruel remarks can end up being our only points of reference for who we are, what we're worth, and even what love is.
Welcome to the world of low self-esteem. East Bay author Anneli Rufus explores these issues in depth in Unworthy: How to Stop Hating Yourself. By exploring her own experience as well as stories from friends and associates, she demonstrates how bad thoughts and feelings affect our behavior and limit us as humans. Rufus also provides guidelines of how to change these habits and rejoin the world of the living.
I interviewed her recently after reading Unworthy.
Like some of your other titles including “Party of One” and “The Scavengers Manifesto,” this book pulls a lot of material from your own life and experience. What moved you to write about self-hatred?
