Is There Anything Wrong With Basing Your Self Esteem On Being Good At Something?

That happens to me just because I’m quite a good artist, and even though that makes me kind of sad it still opens the door for a lot of conversations that might not have otherwise occurred. x]

We all draw pleasure from being good at something, or having success. That is fine.
But these are passing things. What I can do now I might not be able to do later. And I must beg to differ with you on two levels: First, people do praise (good) personalities in the sense of good character. People praise a great many things. However, even that is a problem and reveals what you are really after. Your inquiry seems more based on people’s praise and how to get it than what is objectively good in and of itself.
If what you seek is people’s praise, then you are on a slippery slope. Rather, I’d encourage to seek to do things that are (and become someone who is) good in and of itself, not on the basis of what others say about you.
If you enjoy an activity, excel at it and love it. But also seek virtue of character as tenaciously. And do both because they are good pursuits, irrespective of what praise others might offer or withhold.

There is nothing wrong with being proud and enjoying one’s talents and successes.
However, basing one’s self-esteem (or self-worth) upon it is a bad idea.
Consider the star athlete…. In high school, he may be Big Man on Campus. Maybe he goes on to college with a scholarship. Maybe not. But it is highly unlikely every athlete will make it to the pros. And if his entire sense of self-worth is tied up in his ability to play a sport, what happens when he gets too old to play? What happens to his sense of self if he gets injured bad enough to not play anymore?
Consider the musician who suffers an injury or develops a disease that takes away his ability to play music…. Or the genius who prides himself on his mind and contracts Alzheimer’s….
It’s far better to take pride in what your talents allow you to do, to be proud of the service our talents allow us to perform. But to understand that our self-worth is not decided upon our abilities.
Just my opinion. Be well.

Let others base their opinion on what you can do. Let your own opinion be based on who you are. When I was an actor, I always wondered what to say when people asked – What do you do? If I was not working, was I still an actor? If I took a job as a stage manager – was I still an actor?
Your talent can open doors and let you have great experiences. But don’t ever start to believe your own publicity or press releases.

I think it is human nature to do that. The problem comes when you have based your sense of worth on one thing and then by some chance or misfortune you lose that ability. It can result in a sort of identity crisis , because you have equated your Self with a trait or talent instead of the whole.

Yes in a sense there is. If your self is esteem is based on the fact that you are an excellent footballer for example and then you have an accident and lose a leg [ok quite extreme] then what happens to your confidence then?
Confidence should ALWAYS be about WHO YOU ARE and not based on what you can or cannot do, or even what you have.
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