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Today, I am participating in the blog tour for When I Accepted Me: 52 Affirmations to Boost Your Self-Esteem! by Sonja Samuel (Hewell Publishing). I’ll be giving away a copy of this book, so, if you’d like to enter for the drawing, just leave a comment at the end of this post.

About the book:

How we feel about ourselves, how we see ourselves influences how we live our lives. It is a direct result of the level of our self-esteem. Since we all experience problems with our self-esteem, self-worth, and self-acceptance at various times in our lives, When I Accepted Me is a collection of personal affirmations to help build, boost, and maintain good self-esteem.

About the Author:

You may have seen Sonja Samuel on the sidelines as a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys and for the NFL Players. She is also a former print model, TV spokesperson, and an internet radio and talk show host.

She currently travels the world as an international speaker, leadership consultant, and life empowerment strategist to Fortune 500 companies and their workforce, as well as traveling the globe as a performing arts director and short-term missionary.

Sonja has received numerous honors including being named as an Outstanding Women of America and Personalities of the South. Her mission in life is to “EmPower people to impact their world, fulfill their destiny, and make a divine difference.”

Here’s an interview with Sonja:

Why self-esteem and what is it exactly?

Self-esteem is the extent to which we like, respect, and accept ourselves. It reflects our overall evaluation or appraisal of our self-worth. It encompasses our beliefs, emotions, and behavior.

However, many people operate from the perspective of what others think of them and it fuels a cycle of dissatisfaction and discontentment. Instead of finding peace within themselves and being the unique and distinct person God created them to be, they live a life based on who they think others want them to be.

It has been said that two out of three people, at any given time, suffer from low self-esteem, which can negatively affect every part of their lives. If the negativity goes unaddressed, it can completely ruin their lives. This issue must be addressed in order to live joyous, productive, and purposeful lives as God intended.

From my experience, it all starts with changing the way we think, which is essential to winning over negativity and boosting self-esteem.

Why is self-esteem important to you?

Because after dealing with a difficult separation and divorce, I found myself struggling to rebuild my self-esteem. That whole experience took me down a road of despair and depression like I had never experienced before.

High self-esteem had never been a problem for me, so when life became difficult, I was completely thrown for a loop. It caused me to question my self-worth and value, and, in the end, I really struggled with accepting myself. I started thinking something must be wrong with me.

Based on the Word of God, I found this wasn’t true, but I still struggled. Once I was able to regain my confidence and repair the damage to my self-esteem, I began to see that I had gotten lost in my emotions, that is was really about what was going on in my head. High self-esteem starts with what we think!

What can a person do to build high self-esteem?

I would recommend starting with what I call my ACCEPT principles:

A - Accept your strengths and weaknesses.
C - Concentrate on the positives.
C - Connect to your passion and you’ll connect to your purpose.
P - Persevere. It has been said when the going gets tough, the tough get going. In this life, we will have trouble, as the Bible tells us, so we must hold fast to the faithfulness of God and His promises to never leave us alone.
T - “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your understanding.” We may not see the hand of God at work, but we must trust that He is at work on our behalf. That is called the providence of God.

Tell us about the creative process of writing this book?

Initially, I started writing a book on leadership but, in the process, I kept coming back to this issue of self-esteem. How can we lead others if we are struggling to lead ourselves? The more I reflected on that, the more I reflected on my own personal experiences, not only in the area of leadership but also in the area of self-esteem in general.

In the end, I ended up writing over one hundred affirmations that have been broken down into two volumes under the title of When I Accepted Me. We’ve just released volume 1 and volume 2 will be released in 2010. I divided them up into two volumes because I wanted to give people an opportunity to really reflect and internalize each affirmation to boost their self-esteem.

I’ve suggested to people to just take one a week (that’s why there are 52 of them) and internalize it. Pray on it, see how it reflects in your life. Maybe use it as a guide to write your own for that week.

I’ve also encouraged some people to read one every day for 52 days straight and see if their perspective isn’t changed for the good at the end of it.

How can people get the book and what is some of the feedback you’ve received so far?

My book can be ordered from my website at www.sonjasamuel.com. It would be a great way to start the year and to recharge for the coming year. We are extending it at our special introduction offer of $14.95 because we want to get the book out into as many hands as possible. For me, it is a tool for empowering others which is my personal mission in life.