Steps To Be More Confident
Eveline, a blogger in grade 11 at SIS, has submitted one of her blog posts in which she put together a list of 5 steps on how to achieve confidence.
What is confidence? Just to clear this up, confidence is NOT walking into a room thinking that you’re better than everyone else. Confidence IS however, walking into a room and not comparing yourself with anyone else in the first place… Let’s remember that 🙂
- Cut toxic people/environments out of your life
The best way to start feeling better about yourself is removing anything or anyone that make you feel bad about yourself from your life. Let’s say you have a “friend” who constantly complains about what you do or constantly pushes you down. Or let’s say you’re not receiving any support from your significant other in projects you undertake or challenges you face. If this is the case, please think about the situation. Is it really worth keeping this person in your life? Why should you have to put up with someone day in and day out who doesn’t make you feel good about yourself? Talk to the person, and if that doesn’t help, cut them off. You decide who you spend time with and it is so important to spend it with people that inspire you and make you feel good about what you do.
This can really be as simple as unfollowing certain people on Instagram. Are there models you follow who make you feel bad about your own appearance? Your body? Unfollow them. Fill your life with inspiration and things that make you feel happy and I guarantee that you will see a change in how you perceive yourself.
- List all the things you do well and that make you special
Now, that you’ve removed any negative external energy, you should focus on the internal stuff, because that’s really where it all starts. Please take some time to sit down and write down all the things you do that makes you an amazing person. It doesn’t have to be huge things. Just start with the small stuff. For example, has anyone called you lately when they had a problem that they needed help with? You might think of that as nothing special, but they certainly think you’re special if they turn to you in tough situations. This is probably proof that you’re a caring and helpful person. Another example could be if someone has shared a secret with you. In this case, you’re probably (hopefully) a person people can trust. These are all qualities that make you special and a good person. Always remember these, as they are the things that should make you proud of being the type of person you are.
- Find music that makes you feel good
It might sound silly, but I promise that finding songs that make you feel happy, or calm or really just any positive emotion, is SO helpful. Find that music and listen to it when you need to boost your mood. It’s such a quick fix just put on headphones, turn up the volume to max and there – your mood can completely change in 10 seconds.
- Learn how to stop caring about opinions of others
After making the list, you’ve now realised that there are so many amazing things about yourself. At this point, it’s important to not let other people’s opinions have an effect on this realisation. In other words, if you now know that you possess all these positive qualities, why would you let anyone make you think otherwise? It’s simple common sense. Ignoring negativity from others and learning to not believe in what people say is really the key to loving yourself and appreciating all your positive qualities.
- Fake it til’ you make it
Maybe this is sad to say but sometimes you just have to fake it. Even if you’re feeling scared to do something, approach that problem as if you weren’t. Walk with your head high, speak loudly and even though you might be so so scared, pretend that you aren’t. In most cases when you do this you realise that whatever you had to do wasn’t as difficult or scary as you thought it would be. When you realise that you can do things you were scared to do, and when you overcome your fears, your confidence will grow for sure :))
