Self-esteem
Low self-worth rarely announces itself. It just quietly narrows what you think you are allowed to want.
This is Nikita Vashistha’s counselling work.More about Nikita
What this often feels like
There's a voice that gets there before anyone else does. It says the work wasn't good enough, that you got lucky, that people are only being polite.
You might be the person everyone else leans on and still feel like you take up too much room. Compliments slide straight off. One piece of criticism sticks for a fortnight.
It's rarely dramatic. It mostly shows up as not applying, not asking, not saying the thing — because some part of you has already decided the answer.
What we’d actually do together
We start by listening to how you talk about yourself, because most people don't notice they're doing it until someone says it back to them.
Then we look at where that voice learned to speak. It's usually much earlier than you'd expect, and usually in somebody else's words — a parent, a teacher, a comparison you were held up against at fourteen.
The work is separating what you did from what you are, and building a way of speaking to yourself you would actually accept from a friend. Not affirmations you don't believe. Something plainer and more durable than that.
When it might be worth talking to someone
If you've been holding back from something you want — a role, a conversation, a relationship — because you've already decided you'd be turned down, that's worth exploring with someone.
You're not being dramatic, and you're not being ungrateful. Feeling this way has very little to do with how well your life is going on paper.
It's a slow kind of work and it's worth starting before it costs you something specific.
If you would like to talk
There is no rush, and booking a first session does not commit you to anything after it. You can also just ask a question first — that is a completely normal way to begin.