Self esteem is instilled in us at a young age. My mom always taught me how important it was to have confidence in myself and that no matter what anyone thought, it’s always important to believe in myself. If you don’t have confidence in yourself its hard to look in the mirror and think "wow, I look great today." Improving your self esteem increases your confidence and it’s the first step towards a happy life. Self concept and who we think we are is very important in ones life. When I say I am ambitious, I am amazing, I am goal oriented, I am loving, I use these words to describe myself because I am confident in myself and believe these things. The characteristics we use to describe ourselves and how we view ourselves are important because it relates to how we act and communicate with people. Self esteem is important because it influences how we approach people and how you react in communications and relationships. As a child, if people such as classmates or siblings make fun of you or made you feel negative about yourself, you will believe these negative things and in some way let it shape your life. We are more likely to believe things once we've heard them repeatedly and especially from the people who we find to be credible. In most cases, one cares how they look in the eyes of other people. You may not even realize but when you put on makeup, dress a certain way or ask someone if “these jeans make you me look fat?” This is because you are concerned how others may view you. If someone tells you yes, those jeans make you look fat; you may begin to view yourself as less attractive. If that someone is a credible person and they say the jeans look good on you, you will feel appealing. Society and the people around you can alter your self esteem, unless you are just a cocky individual and nobody’s opinion matter. This refers to Charles Cooley’s, The Looking Glass Self; you see the image of yourself that others reveal to you.