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The reason why I might have a very low self-esteem has to be the fact that I tried all my life to go for perfection, so I never saw my strengths, I just looked for faults and issues to correct. Other people, on the other hand, who enjoy a great self-esteem, focused on elevation, thus making any strength they discovered or developed work in their favor. Ultimately, I suppose they sought happiness, while I sought perfection.

I am looking for an English word harmonious with perfection, and it should mean something like happiness, enjoyment, achievement, pleasure, etc. It is to put it in the place of elevation in the paragraph.

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    Satisfaction (or exhilaration, elation, delectation, girly action, girl reaction)?
    – Řídící
    Oct 1, 2016 at 15:54
  • "who enjoyed greater self-esteem, focused on escalation," also 'effection' (obs., but would meet with ready understanding as 'the process of effecting', 'accomplishment, performance').
    – JEL
    Oct 1, 2016 at 21:32
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    I have no idea why this question and the answers are so heavily down voted. Maybe you can include some of your research and words that you have excluded already.
    – Helmar
    Oct 1, 2016 at 23:08
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    You might be able to do something with "confection".
    – Hot Licks
    Oct 2, 2016 at 2:47

3 Answers 3

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delectation

Oxford Living Dictionaries identifies it as a mass noun meaning "pleasure and delight."

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    Hi, aparente001. I'm not the downvoter, but I did think that your original answer would be better with a link to the dictionary that the definition you cited probably came from—so I added one. In any case, citing Google as the source tends not to be very helpful.
    – Sven Yargs
    Oct 2, 2016 at 0:04
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    @SvenYargs - Why? Nowadays, typing define delectation into the universal whats-it box causes Google to return a nicely formatted, if simplified, dictionary entry, right at the top of the page. I identified my source, and it is extremely easy to reproduce my results (i.e. retrace my steps).
    – aparente001
    Oct 2, 2016 at 2:19
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    As a matter of citation, it seems to me, Google is merely the conduit to the definition while Oxford Living Dictionaries is the definition's source. If I were to visit the library and find and quote a definition from a big dictionary in the reference room, I could give "from the library" as my source, but that doesn't really give credit where credit is due.
    – Sven Yargs
    Oct 2, 2016 at 5:23
  • @SvenYargs - "The library" is clearly not enough to enable someone to retrace our steps. Are you saying that citing a google definition is similarly unclear?
    – aparente001
    Oct 2, 2016 at 19:19
  • I'm saying that Google didn't write the definition and the example that appear as the top result when you search for delectation; Google provides the information in a nice window at the top of the first search results page, but Google isn't the institutional author of that information. Regrettably, Google doesn't cite the actual source, which I think is bad form—though Google obviously disagrees. To find that source, you have to search for "pleasure and delight" + "a box of chocolates for their delectation", which takes you here.
    – Sven Yargs
    Oct 2, 2016 at 22:30
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You might find that affection could fit quite nicely.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affection

" : the feeling aspect (as in pleasure) of consciousness"

The reason why I might have a very low self-esteem has to be the fact that I tried all my life to go for perfection, so I never saw my strengths, I just looked for faults and issues to correct. Other people, on the other hand, who enjoy a great self-esteem, focused on affection, thus making any strength they discovered or developed work in their favor. Ultimately, I suppose they sought happiness, while I sought perfection.

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Consider self-actualization

The term was coined by Abraham Maslow back in 1954, when he wrote about the ‘hierarchy of needs’.

Definition: The achievement of one's full potential through creativity, independence, spontaneity, and a grasp of the real world. Self-actualization refers to the need for personal growth and development that exists throughout your life. If you are self-actualized, you work hard to grow and become who you want to be in life and reach your full potential.

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