It’s Time to Improve Your Confidence
Does your confidence suck? It’s okay if you answered yes. Even though I’m still working on feeling more confident in myself, there was a time when I had little to no confidence and only focused on the things I hated about myself. You probably say things like, “when my body is more toned, I’ll be happier” or “I’ll be more confident when my acne heals and I lose some belly fat”.
But, did you know that when you walk into a room and you lack confidence, others pick up on that energy? The same goes for if you walk into a room with shoulders back, chin high, and you make eye contact with everyone, others can feel that confident energy and look up to you more.
You should also know that you can’t continue to wait until X happens to feel differently. If you want to be more confident you have to show up differently and become that confident version of yourself BEFORE X, Y, and Z fall into place. You will heal your acne, release weight, or receive your desired outcome a lot easier that way. Seems backward, doesn’t it?
I moved away from hating myself and building my confidence in a few different ways. First of all, your mindset needs to change. You have to feel more comfortable with loving yourself and focusing on the positive aspects of your image, health, and how you show up in a crowd. You can do this by reading personal development books, writing and stating affirmations, journaling, and observing your thoughts without judgment. You cannot skip this step and I know it isn’t easy, you will need to work on this little by little every day, your mindset will not magically change overnight.
I also became more intentional with my routines and health habits. If I said that I was going to journal three times a week, I made sure to make that happen. Scale back your routines and habits if you feel like you may be over-committing. When you are consistent with your intentions and habits, you slowly build confidence in yourself. You ultimately begin trusting yourself more and this will also improve your motivation. You can even start out with the most simple things, like “I’m going to wash the dishes” and then fulfilling on that statement. Wiring your brain differently will provide you with a different outcome.
Lastly, I released the judgment of others. I truly stopped caring about what people thought of me. I used to look at a photo I posted on IG and when I saw someone “liked” it, I would overanalyze everything. I would try to put myself in their shoes and wonder what they were thinking about me. How crazy does that sound?! I held on to how other people viewed me and what I now know is that all that matters is how I view myself.
This is a work in progress, ya know? Of course, there are days when I am being a little more self-critical but I’ve built tools to pull out of my holistic toolbox during those times. Whether that is using aromatherapy, writing affirmations on a sticky note to look at all day, or talking it out with my fiance.
If you are lacking confidence and you answered yes at the beginning of this blog, here is your homework.
Reflect on your current mindset and identify how it would feel to fully embrace your body, love, and feel confident in yourself
Pick an affirmation that you can state or write down when you are feeling self-critical
Assess your habits and routines. Where can you scale back to achieve more consistency and build that trust within yourself?
Next time you go grocery shopping, look others in the eyes, hold your chin high, roll your shoulders back and pretend for a moment what the most confident version of yourself looks like. Practice makes progress.