Building greater confidence IS possible….
Building greater confidence IS possible…. and growing in self-esteem is worth the effort! Life improves once you realize that you can have greater resilience in the face of challenges.
When you’re in tune and kind to yourself, you are better with communication, boundary-setting and saying “No,” and you’ll be much more likely to take risks and pursue goals. When you reduce self-harming behaviors (and/or ignoring yourself,) and create more optimism, it also creates a more fulfilling and satisfying life. Imagine experiencing far less dependency on others for validation!
Here I want to talk about how to cultivate greater authenticity, congruency and confidence… that comes from living by your values; not changing them for every person that comes along and makes demands on you.
You may struggle to stand up for yourself..... And that doesn't mean that you don't know how to set boundaries, only that stress and responsibility have made things too confusing to see what’s appropriate. Advocating or vouching for yourself when necessary or applicable will help you in developing the confidence you need to be your BEST! When you speak up for yourself a bit and let people in on what you’re feeling, it deepens the relationship. Others appreciate it so much when you level with them.
You can work on this each day by occasionally putting yourself first and seeing how you feel.... in management positions or positions with responsibility we might feel a strong pull to put everyone else above ourselves. However, the best way to take care of everyone else, our responsibilities, and our bodies is to first take care of our own emotional well-being.
Focus on making the changes that leave you feeling more fulfilled, rather than giving to the point of exhaustion to everyone else. First you have to give yourself permission to believe in yourself and try new things each day. When you see how your thinking affects everything, then you’ll be able to act differently from that point of recognition!