Maintaining self-confidence is an issue that a lot of people deal with regardless of their years of age. Confidence is defined as a feeling that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Confidence derives its meaning from the Latin word ‘fidere’ which means “to trust”. Broken down further, when you have self-confidence, this means that you have trust in yourself.
When you don’t have confidence in yourself this can lead to low self-esteem, and in some extreme cases, depression. When you suffer from low-self esteem or low confidence, you might hide away from social situations, refuse to opt in to trying new things, and avoid doing things that you might find challenging. Depression affects 15 million adults or 6.8% of people in the United States. Depression is common amongst men and women in the United States and in some cases begins around the age of 13. This can be harmful to your mental and physical health in the long run. Fortunately, there are ways to boost your confidence. Check out a few tips below.
1. Stop labeling yourself as awkward, timid, or shy.
One big way that people take potshots at their own confidence is to be self-deprecating. We beat up on ourselves. To get a bit more “official” with the definition, self-deprecation is the act of reprimanding ourselves by belittling, undervaluing, or disparaging ourselves.
One other way of being self-deprecating is by being excessively modest. Many of us use this “tool” in humorous ways, or as a way to relieve tension.
We label ourselves as timid, awkward, or shy, in a way to get laughs. When we label ourselves with these traits, we are subconsciously telling ourselves to act accordingly and psychologically. It’s as if we feel inclined to live up to those lowered expectations. Don’t label yourself with such negative talk.
Build yourself up by visualizing and affirming yourself as confident and strong. You have to be your own personal hype man or hype woman. When you project an air of being timid for close to 24 hours out of your day, that creates a weight that you feel you can’t shake. But you can.
One way to get out of our heads when it comes to seeing ourselves as less than others is to exercise. Maybe think about using a new pool to exercise. After contacting a swimming pool builder in Bradenton FL to build a new backyard pool, relieve some of that anxiousness or self-doubt with a couple of laps in your new pool. At the end of the day, try your best to feel more confident in yourself, and do away with seeing yourself as being timid, and shy.
2. Realize most people aren’t focusing on you.
This may sound a bit harsh, but most folks don’t care about you. They really don’t. People are constantly wrapped up in their day to day issues. You rate very low on their scale of things to focus on. As you walk down the street, afraid of what others might feel about you, here are a small sampling of their thoughts.
That lady you just passed by on the street is wondering how to see if someone is in jail. She’s probably trying to figure out their inmate number and to see if they’re at the local county jail. The old guy on the bench? He’s trying to figure out gift ideas for his teenage grandkids. The lady getting off the bus is wondering which family members are coming for the holidays. And back to the first lady: she’s still focusing on inmate numbers and local county jails.
The common thread amongst all of these people that you’ve come across: they aren’t thinking about you at all. Rest easy in the fact that 99 percent of people on this planet aren’t looking for ways to demean, or degrade you. And if they are, forget about them, and tell them to kick rocks with some steel-toed work boots.
You don’t need to be pre-occupied with being perfect or living up to ideals which you feel you need to reach for random folks on the street. When you try to be perfect, this deals major blows to your self-confidence and creates unnecessary anxiety. Anxiety can bring on unwanted stress, and this can pull you even further down towards the depths of depression. Try your best to realize that people aren’t focusing on you, and you’ll have a much better mindset at the end of the day.
3. Dress to impress (yourself).
This is going to the part where you get a bit selfish with your self-care. At the end of the day, building your confidence is affects you personally. Sure, you want to show people that you are happy with who you are. At the end of the day though, all of the advice that’s being offered on this list is for you though.
Putting on a new outfit, which appeals to you, can make you feel extremely happy. When you dress nicely, you will feel good about yourself, and this can act as an immediate confidence booster. A large reason for this is when you dress nicely you will feel appealing, neat, and even successful in a nice-looking updated wardrobe.
Maybe this includes picking up those journey shoes womens boots that you saw online? Try picking whatever pair of shoes catches your eye, no matter the style. For women, this can include buying a pair of Dr. Martens Jadon boots, rain boots, canvas shoes, Chukka boots, combat boots, high tops, moccasins, and Timberland euro hiker boots. For a guy, maybe look at new wallets, some stylish pair of high tops, a pair of nice-looking men’s shoes, a nice set of hoodies, and some nice Nike beach sandals. Treat yourself to a wardrobe that makes you happy.
4. Prepare for rejection.
Rejection is a part of life. Even if you excelled in having strong confidence, rejection doesn’t just stop because of that. The world is going to tell us no many times over, so it helps to be prepared for when it does happen. What you need to ask yourself is how you will handle the rejection when it occurs.
Prepare yourself as well as you can for the possibility of rejection. Steel yourself for hearing “no” so that your confidence isn’t broken. For some people, getting rejected is just a typical day of the week. It’s a Monday, or Friday. Think of ways that you can prepare yourself better if the rejection does happen. For example, let’s say that you are going to a social gathering. Maybe you want to use this opportunity to meet someone of the opposite or the same sex that you’d like to get to know better, or even take on a date.
In cases like these, prepare yourself for the fact that every one you might speak with will not be interested in you. That’s their choice and guess what: it’s not the end of the world for you. The more you prepare for the possibility of this happening, the easier it is to accept it as a fact of life. Just keep it moving, while keeping your confidence intact.
