I see people searching for self esteem every day. I notice them in the bookstore partially hiding their faces with books with bold titles promising self satisfaction. I spot them at house parties making degrading comments about themselves loudly in hopes that someone will correct them with a compliment. I find them all over the internet posting their deeply rooted self doubts on anonymous websites and relying on the shallow reassurance that strangers can provide with a handful of characters -- punctuated with an emoji. Their endless search for self love is not, in itself, negative in any way. The problem is where they are looking.

You will not find self esteem in the words of others, in an uplifting quote lodged in the middle of an overpriced book, or in the thoughts of random strangers on the internet. You can not discover self help in a lovely text box on Pinterest. By putting your self- esteem into someone else's hands you are giving that person the power to make or break your opinion of yourself. Reading someone else's motivational story will lift your spirits, but not your status in life. Scrolling through endless photos of free-spirited models will not give you the adventure you think you need to have a fulfilling life. Everything that you give power to becomes who you are.

In order to raise your self esteem and realize your potential you must practice self compassion. Cut yourself some slack -- instead of focusing on everything that you wish you would have done, make peace with your actual accomplishments. Stop comparing yourself to others. It's all too easy to compare your beginning to someone else's middle, especially in a world where social media has overwhelmed us with nonstop information and carefully filtered events captured on iPhone camera. However, this constant comparison leaves us feeling like we're are worth less than everyone around us.

I encourage you to give up on finding self-esteem and start to create your own. After you accept and love your personality and your physical appearance, you will start to notice positive changes in your life.