A Thought on Confidence

Confidence. This single word can mean so many different things for all of us. It could be the one thing that truly sets us free and makes us feel alive. Or, it could be our biggest adversary, standing in our way and holding us back from who we’ve always wanted to do or become.

Many happy and prosperous people credit their confidence and strong sense of self to the variety of successes they’ve had in their lives, but very few people really explain how to cultivate it. To me, confidence is something we’re all born with. It’s the true essence of who we are before life happened to us. It’s who we are before the challenges we’ve faced and the judgment we’ve endured. It’s the strong sense-of-self we all had before societal and personal strains forced us to second-guess ourselves. And while some people are fortunate to never lose their confidence, many of us need to (and should) consistently work on maintaining and strengthening our own supply.

Confidence is built on so many different things, but generally-speaking, it stems from our own accomplishments, and the choices we make that make us feel happy and proud of who we are. It blossoms from finding our passions and feeding them—and discovering these things can truly be one of the most worthwhile and important pursuits of our lives. Because at the end of the day, confidence (or the lack-there-of) impacts nearly every area of our lives.

When we get things done and achieve our goals, no matter the size, we feel so much better about ourselves.