In my field we think about the role of self-esteem and self-efficacy when it comes to behavior.

How we think about whether we’re equipped to accomplish a task influences if we attempt something new.

In the wake of New Year resolutions I was wondering out loud about the influence of self-efficacy when a friend said an apt metaphor to describe this attribute would be a rock.

Self-esteem as rock.

She said, think of it as solid, dense and immutable.

Strange how her comment flipped my brain upside down because never in a million years would I describe self-esteem as solid. How would you describe it, she asked.

Like a ghost.

We each contemplated our respective metaphoric visions and I saw the ghostly metaphor shift shape. If your self-esteem is as transient as a ghost then it must volley and dive according to context and circumstance.

And I guess it means your self-esteem is subject to the whims of how other folks think of you.

Think I prefer the rock.

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