When the foundation of a marital relationship is wrongly laid, commitment will be difficult to easily come by and frustration, violence and abuse of all kinds will be inevitable.
Unhealthy self-esteem will predispose you to underestimating yourself and others, make you to be critical of yourself and others and further expose you to negative self-talk which will further make you always talk down on your partner.
To engage the concept of self-worth to your marital relationship, you have to be able to hold your spouse in high esteem by appreciating him or her adequately and valuing him or her as you should both privately and publicly.
Being hard on yourself will mean being critical of yourself and others; therefore, to engage in the act of self-love in your marital relationship, love your spouse well to pardon his or her errors, just as you do to yourself from time to time.
It should be counted as a red flag when your intending spouse cannot stay committed to simple routine on body hygiene, eat well, pay attention to his or her medical or mental health needs, and if he or she rarely spends on himself or herself.
Self-care is not the same as self-love, though they are closely related. Self-love is more particular about being aware of yourself and putting the right worth, value, and respect on yourself because of unconditional acceptance of yourself. While self-care narrows down to taking responsibility for your wellness physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Self-esteem is basically not about what people say or think about you, rather, it is the opinion that you personally have about yourself. It is what you emit to the world around you about yourself, time in and time out, consciously or unconscious.
You cannot be better than what you think about yourself neither can you relate better with others or to your spouse better than how you relate to yourself.
Lack of self-respect will kill your admiration for your spouse and make you not to appreciate his or her good gesture promptly, because anyone without self-respect is more open to criticism than appreciation and this will impede marital commitment that should flow from each of you and your partner to one another.
Self-respect will help you to apportion the right honor and dignity to your spouse because people who have self-respect rarely dishonor other people, as they are honor personified.