Growing Your Confidence

image via psychologytoday.com

Confidence … something I still have trouble with, but it has grown immensely. It develops over time; you’re not going to just wake up one day and suddenly feel this whole new wave of confidence.

However, to get there someday, here are some steps to take.

Care about how you look: Wake up a little earlier; put on a cute outfit, take time into doing your makeup, do your hair with patience. I heard this quote, something like … dress everyday like you’re going to run into your favorite celebrity. That simple, funny quote is what got me to start putting effort into my appearance and some confidence ended up coming with it.

I wore a cute outfit everyday and instead of putting my curly hair into a tight bun I straightened it and left it down. Other people may like my curly hair, but I don’t. I love my hair straight so that is how I choose to do it everyday. This led to constant compliments which led to higher self esteem.

I don’t want this to seem as if I think looks are all that matter because that is, of course, false. However it is completely accurate that when you look good you feel good. When you feel good you get this new sense of joy and new desire to want to go out, to step outside your comfort zone. If you want to feel better about yourself a good way to start is looking in the mirror and being proud of the look you put together.

Walk with good posture and your head held high: Instead of hunching over, hands in your pocket, and looking down, walk like you’re on a runway. Even if you don’t feel like it, in time it will just become natural. When you walk like this, people that walk by you and see you will assume you have confidence, even if you don’t, but eventually it will come.

Do what you love: Usually the activities we love encompass something we are good at. When you are in an environment where you ‘know your stuff,’ you almost feel untouchable and you feel happy — whether it’s playing soccer, or taking art classes, or going to a dance performance. The place I feel most confident is concerts. Every concert I go to is an artist that I know everything about and have followed for years.

So for some reason whenever I go to a concert my self esteem shoots up. I once went to one and three strangers told me I was pretty. I think being so happy was the cause of that. So I try to go to a lot of concerts, not only because I love them, but because it truly helps my confidence grow.