Two focuses of my blog are Creating Ecosystems of Success and Health/Wellness. An important part of our quality of life is our emotional well being. An important aspect of that is having healthy self-confidence and self-esteem. The following contributed post is entitled, Common Confidence Troubles And How To Overcome Them.
* * *
Everyone you have ever met has dealt with low confidence at one point or another. This is because confidence is not something immovable and often fluctuates on a daily (if not hourly) basis – based on our current scenario, worries for the future, or even memories of our past.
As a result, you’re not alone if you’ve noticed that your confidence has taken a hit lately. In fact, it’s estimated that 80% of adults have low self-esteem. Despite this, there are certain counter-methods and tactics that you can employ to improve your confidence levels.
Photo by Morgan Housel on Unsplash
With that in mind, here are three common confidence troubles and how to overcome them.
Struggle: I don’t feel confident in my smile. As a society, we are often over-critical of our own appearances – likely due to the impact of social media and societal beauty standards. However, one aspect of our appearance that we are incredibly critical of is our smile. When we don’t have the picture-perfect smile that we see on our Instagram feeds, it’s all too easy to want to stop smiling altogether. Thankfully, there are many steps you can take to fall back in love with your smile. For example, you could reach out to an emergency dentist to carry out any necessary dental work. This will help you to improve your teeth and gum health, giving you a whiter, brighter smile that you are more likely to show off.
Struggle: I don’t feel confident when socialising. Social anxiety is common amongst adults and children of all ages – but studies suggest it has increased significantly since the pandemic. This is hardly surprising, as we’ve spent so much time at home (being told not to socialise) that we have to reacclimatise ourselves to these behaviours. However, most social anxiety stems from the idea that we feel as though we are not wanted or liked by those we surround ourselves with. And to combat this, you must simply remember this is not true. If your friends did not want you to attend a certain event, you would not be invited. You are valued more than you know. If you find that your friends are constantly tearing you down, they are the issue, not you – and you should look into changing your social circle.
Struggle: I don’t feel confident in my career. Whether you feel you aren’t following your true calling or simply need to make more of yourself in the working world, career-related anxieties are increasingly common. However, if you want to succeed within any industry, you’ve got to find as many ways as possible to boost your professional confidence. Firstly, you should remember that you were hired for a reason. No matter how hard you may be hit by imposter syndrome, know that you wouldn’t be in the room if you didn’t deserve to be there. Secondly, you should also learn to be more confident in the things you do. Hold your head high, speak loudly and proudly, and know that it’s not the end of the world if you make a mistake. Without mistakes, we wouldn’t learn anything new.
