Book Title: How to Respect Myself
Author : Yoon Hong Gyun
Publisher : TransMedia Library
Published Year : 2020
Number of Pages : xiv, 342 pp; 14x20cm
Book Price : Rp99.000
“The main process is receiving.” One of the quotes that became the main key in the self-development book “How to Respect Myself” by Yoon Hong Gyun. This book was published to provide soothing answers to the questions and confusion of those whose hearts are hurting. Yoon Hong Gyun wrote this book based on his personal experience as a psychiatric doctor who treats patients with various complaints, such as insecurity, insecurity, and unstable emotions. There are also some experiences that Yoon Hong Gyun experienced himself when going through the process of becoming a doctor so that he can pour new perceptions into this book.
Seven Chapters
The 342-page book contains seven chapters, with several explanatory sub-chapters in each chapter. The seven sections of this book contain knowledge on how to appreciate, know, and love yourself.
The first part will discuss the importance of self-esteem by introducing the three basic pillars of self-esteem, namely self-usefulness, self-control, and security. Self-esteem is considered the level of love for oneself. However, human identity that is increasingly compared can have a major effect on self-esteem.
Self-esteem in the pattern of love and human relationships is the content of the second and third parts. Not confident will damage interpersonal relationships. Therefore, a person needs to have a close friend who will always trust him, and that closest friend is himself.
The loneliness of separation is a suffering experienced by all human beings and can indeed lead to loneliness. However, it can also make a person freer. When alone, we can take care of ourselves wholeheartedly and can be free from the interference of others.
This chapter also explains the difference between wanting to be loved versus being afraid of losing love; wanting to be happy versus not wanting to be miserable; and sincere versus fearing people’s views. “Why is it just me?.” . A question that is often present and makes the problem more complicated. As a result, young people today have to run while constantly looking for directions.
“Emotions are the fashion of the heart.” The fourth part describes feelings that hinder self-esteem. The more a person cannot control emotions, the elements that form positive self-esteem or self-control will decrease. Emotions based on temperature have several types, emotions that are difficult to regulate include shame, emptiness, and ambivalent. Hot emotions include self-loathing, guilt, self-pity, and narcissism. Cold emotions include disappointment, indifference, belittling, and disinterest.
Of the various obstacles to self-esteem, the fifth and sixth parts will be conveyed what are the things or habits that need to be trained to restore self-esteem. Things that need to be discarded are feeling easily discouraged, not passionate, inferior, like to delay avoidance, and sensitive. Then the thing that needs to be conquered is wounds, overcoming obstacles, criticism and vicious circles. In a vicious circle, there are two things in this world that cannot be changed, that is, other people and the past. In addition, nature is also difficult to change, not infrequently people come to the hospital because they feel they have signs of borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Finally, the seventh part will apply five practices to increase self-esteem. It starts with being determined to love yourself blindly or for no particular reason, loving yourself by cultivating self-confidence, choosing and deciding what is right for yourself, focusing on ‘now, here’ which refers to future actions, and stopping losing.
In addition to containing seven sections on self-respect, the book, which became the #1 best seller in South Korea, also contains 24 exercises to boost self-confidence. This section is called “Today’s Activities to Improve Self-Esteem” which contains the practice of writing about yourself, recording one’s characteristics, writing desired things, thinking about the determination to be done, writing emotional notes with exclamation sentences, exercises in classifying thoughts, stretching, and memorizing sensitive eraser mantras.
Comfort in Reading How to Respect Myself
The interactive, smooth, and easy-to-understand language style can make the reader immersed with the excitement of the contents of this book. Although discussing things that are personal and sensitive, but with a slick word selection strategy, readers will not feel judged. The issues raised also come from Yoon Hong Gyun’s own experience, making readers feel connected to the storyline and can understand it deeply. How to Respect Myself is expected to give readers who feel disappointed, angry, confused, or sad the opportunity to re-establish their self-esteem and create a new life.
Some chapters are then further divided into sub-chapters allowing the reader to become less deeply understanding the contents of the book. This is due to the limited explanation of each part. In addition, the interactive exercise sheets make this book not suitable for reading in one sitting or with a short time because the reader needs to fill in and follow the steps of the worksheet.
“I deserve to be loved. So it’s only natural that someone loves me.”
“Often times separation is a shortcut to happiness“
“Being alone also turns out to be okay“
“Do they need me? Will I be recognized?“
Some of these quotes will constantly remind us to stay focused on the process we go through in building or re-establishing self-esteem. With the book How to Respect Myself, you can see, realize, and provide real proof that you can survive until this moment.