The Practice of Self-Confidence

This week, I challenged myself to practice awareness and discipline to improve my self-confidence, self-esteem, and overall well-being. As someone who struggles with many insecurities and self-doubt, I found this difficult. A couple of strategies I adopted were picking out outfits that I felt comfortable and confident in. It’s important that you feel your best self in your body. The second strategy was complimenting others. Feeling beautiful comes from your heart, and when I made someone’s day even slightly better, I feel better as well. Sometimes instead of worrying about yourself, you can turn the narrative to someone else.

My most useful strategy for those wanting to practice improving their self-confidence is to focus on improving others. I believe that self-confidence is impossible to fully achieve in a community that’s not supportive. You will also tend to be complimented again by the person you complimented initially, even potentially building a friendship through a couple of words every other day.

I believe that confidence is not only built within you but also shaped by how those around you make you feel. It's unrealistic to believe that confidence just comes from within because, as humans, we do care about other people’s opinions of us, and that is normal. But you can choose whom you want in your inner circle. I believe that you should not have to sacrifice your self-confidence for someone. Even if they are being honest, you should feel like you should continue to improve yourself, not that you’re the problem. I realized that you are not the villain for choosing whom you want around you because you deserve a community that makes you feel seen.

So how can you practice this? When you step into life, you choose which direction to go. And though it might sound cheesy, it is true. Improving yourself not only requires self-discipline but also self-confidence, which I have been working on for many years. Self-confidence is showing up for yourself, not other people, and you deserve to put yourself first. It’s not selfish.