Struggling with a lack of confidence can be debilitating and limiting. If you struggle with confidence you may find that it holds you back, prevents you from achieving all that you want to achieve, and leaves you feeling deflated and downcast. If you struggle with your confidence it can be a lonely place to be, it can feel like you are the only one facing these struggles and all of the successful people you see around you do not have the same life-limiting struggle. The fact is you couldn’t be further from the truth. Almost everyone has struggled with a confidence crisis at some point, even the most outgoing and successful of people. The differentiating factor between them and you is the steps you take to try and overcome your issues with self-confidence. To help you build the foundations to battle your confidence, here are some simple steps to consider.
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Exercise
It may seem as though exercise is prescribed for just about anything nowadays but bear with it. Exercise can do more for your well-being than improving your physical and mental health as it can have a positive impact on your confidence.
Firstly, exercise is known to produce endorphins, which will improve your mood and reduce feelings of stress. This, in turn, can have a positive impact on the way you see yourself and in turn on your levels of confidence.
Secondly, exercise can improve your physical health including your strength, your weight/appearance, and the health of your skin and hair. By proxy, this can also have an impact on your confidence and self-esteem as you may feel more comfortable in your skin, and more willing to put yourself out there in situations you might have previously avoided.
Finally and most importantly, if you find exercise hard or are pushing yourself with a particular workout or fitness challenge then the positive effects of achieving those challenges or completing that notoriously difficult workout should not be underestimated. The sense of pride and accomplishment you feel when you push yourself and achieve something you didn’t believe you could is contagious. It will spread into all facets of your life and leave you feeling ‘if you can do that, you can do anything’.
Your appearance
No, this is not some vain attempt to persuade you that you need to look a certain way to feel good about yourself or to be more confident. Rather, it is simply acknowledging that everybody has something about themselves that they are less comfortable with. It could be your smile, your nose, or your freckles. Whatever it is you need to find a way to make peace with the way you look. Of course, there are practical steps you can take to improve aesthetics and ergo confidence, be it getting braces, visiting a periodontist, or wearing concealer. If those things help, then do it, there is no shame in that. But ultimately you are who you are and you need to learn to love yourself that way. Accepting and loving yourself is the most confident personality trait a person can have. So, eliminate the negative talk from your life, spend time looking at yourself, and work on letting go of what people think.
