Breaking the Cycle

I read Wong's passage about Self-Esteem cycles and thought it was very interesting.  Low achievement leads negative perception of self and others, which leads to bad relationships, etc.  Low self-esteem is a cycle just like high self-esteem is a cycle.  High achievement leads to a high view of one's self and so on.  Both cycles can be broken.  For me, failure can really break a high self-esteem cycle.  For instance, in Latin freshman year, I got an 'A' on the first test.  On the next one I got a 'C'.  I incorrectly felt that Latin just wasn't for me and that I should blow it off the rest of the semester.  Bad move.  I should not have let my low self-esteem get me.  You have to take yourself out of a bad cycle by working hard and positive thinking.