The Common Room

Check out this New York Times article, "A Harmonic Convergence in Union Square" (August 19, 2007) about living the green life in Union Square:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/fashion/19wheatpack.html.

If that link has expired, you can find the article on Lexis-Nexis via NYUHome.

This piece, "Welcome, Students. Now Watch It," appeared in yesterday's New York Times and offers some advice for newcomers to the city. The highlights:

• Dont fall asleep on the subway.
• Don't drink too much beer and use the street as a toilet.
• Don't ask a cabbie (or anyone else) to take you to "Hugh-ston" Street.
• Don't play chess for money with the hustlers in Washington Square Park.
• Don't try to swim in the rivers.

You can find the complete article here.

I have recently been pondering the source of self confidence in the people around me. About a week ago, I was having day and I kept thinking, why me? I was disappointed in myself for making a few grammatical errors in a paper I had just turned in. I was also embarrassed. How could I have made such small mistakes? How come I didn’t notice the grammatical errors before? I criminalized myself for not achieved perfect success. I remember feeling dissatisfied with myself at the time.

According to moreself-esteem.com, it is self esteem that increases a person’s self confidence. They state that there are great benefits to having high self-esteem. Primarily, high self-esteem increases your ability to contribute to the world around you as well as to express and share your self more with others. Other benefits to having high self esteem include making you happier and improving a person’s relationships with others.

This website also claims that insecurity, depression, unhappiness and low confidence can all be due low self-esteem. When someone has low self-esteem that person is more vulnerable to allowing the desires of other to take higher priority that their own. Additionally, the term “inner criticism” is introduced which can be described as a person’s inner voice of disapproval.

Listed below are self-esteem boosting techniques moreself-esteem.com encourages people to adopt.

1. Face your fears. Challenges may seem scary but your fears are usually exaggerated. Facing your fears increases your confidence and boosts your esteem.

2. Forget your failures, yet learn from them. Avoid making the same mistakes again, but don’t limit yourself by assuming you will fail before you even try to succeed. Don’t be afraid to try again! People who face challenges often become a little wiser and stronger after overcoming them.

3. Know what you want and go for it. I encourage you to learn more about being assertive, because you deserve to pursue happiness like everyone else.

4. Reward yourself when you succeed. This suggestion applies to all successes big and small. It can be helpful to make a list of your successes and focus on the positive.

5. Talk. We often make assumptions about a situation or person which may not be true. Your perspective of a situation may be more negative that it really is. So, if you have any doubt or question about a situation ask someone and don’t assume you know why or how.

6. Don’t be defeated! If you don’t accomplish a goal, try again. All you may need is a different approach. Do not be defeated by one failed attempt. Doesn’t everyone fail sometimes?

Well, I hope I’ve imparted some perspective, instilled some hope and shared with you some useful self-esteem building techniques. Good luck! I wish you both happiness and success in the near future! Feel free to visit the website, http://www.more-selfesteem.com.

My name is Azaa’a Camp and I am the 11th floor RA at U-Hall for the 2008-2009 academic year. I am also a Peer Educator trained as a Sexual Health Advocate (SHA) and a Sexual Assault Educator (SAE) through NYU’s Health Promotion Office (HPO). If you have any questions or concerns related to what I have written about this week, please feel free to email me at ac1865@nyu.edu or stop by my room, 1105.

Additionally, NYU Wellness Exchange has a 24/7 hotline that you can call, 212-443-9999.