After my last blog post, I wrote a couple of drafts and then shoved them away for no reason at all. But here is something that I think I must write about. Something I've noticed a lot in school and college students (I can't speak for those older than them) is the lack of self confidence. I've learnt from my own experiences how important self confidence can be and would like to share my thoughts, stories and all that I've discovered along the way about having self confidence.
As they move through school, kids generally tend to compare themselves with their friends, they like to know who has the better school bag and stationery. As they grow older, they start comparing clothes, talents, achievements, trophies and so on. It is around this time that some of them start losing confidence in themselves when they notice that their friends are doing better than themselves in any particular field. At that age, it is easy to be put off by small failures. As they move to high school and college, they tend to not believe in themselves at all and think that they're not good enough to achieve certain things. I've seen quite a few people who underestimate themselves and believe that they are not as good as their peers.
Thinking that you are not good enough to achieve something means that you have given up before you even tried. Unless you believe you have it in you to achieve something, you are never really going to try hard to achieve it. When you have confidence in yourself, it shows in everything you do, the way you talk, the way you carry yourself, the way you talk to others, the way you approach problems, the way you take up challenges and what not. That confidence is what lets others know if you are capable of achieving and taking up challenges. I've always believed that, for someone to believe in you, you must first believe in yourself. So what is it that you can do to build self confidence?
You might always feel that you lack something. However, every single person is unique and your unique qualities are your biggest strengths. If each of us could look at ourselves from a different person's perspective, none of us would ever think we are not good enough. However it is not practical to have someone tell you how good you are all the time. That responsibility is solely yours. Whenever I face self confidence issues, I think of my most treasured achievements. They remind me of all that I am good at. I suggest you do the same. It also helps to remind yourself that no one can be perfect and you are amazing in your own way. Do remember that one cannot be good at everything. So, instead of trying to achieve that, why not work on your positive qualities? If you've failed many times, remember that you've learned more from each failure than you'd have learned if you'd succeeded. When things go wrong, don't give up. Look towards the future with confidence in yourself.
Having spent a large chunk of my childhood battling self-confidence issues, most of what I've written here is out of personal experience. It took me quite some years to realize that the solution to my problems lies with me. Once I realized that and worked on my self-confidence, I met a completely different version of myself. One of my friends fondly refers to it as "Zeina's metamorphosis"! The changes I witnessed in myself then onwards were incredible. I could find myself being much, much more confident of myself when I interacted with others. That made it easier for me to make many new friends and hone my talents. I then worked on all my strengths and got better at what I was already good at. I stopped worrying about all that I was not good at and focused on my talents. I continue to do that today. It is human to be put off by failures, but once you over come that disappointment, success is not very far off. If you do not realize your worth, no one will.
As they move through school, kids generally tend to compare themselves with their friends, they like to know who has the better school bag and stationery. As they grow older, they start comparing clothes, talents, achievements, trophies and so on. It is around this time that some of them start losing confidence in themselves when they notice that their friends are doing better than themselves in any particular field. At that age, it is easy to be put off by small failures. As they move to high school and college, they tend to not believe in themselves at all and think that they're not good enough to achieve certain things. I've seen quite a few people who underestimate themselves and believe that they are not as good as their peers.
Thinking that you are not good enough to achieve something means that you have given up before you even tried. Unless you believe you have it in you to achieve something, you are never really going to try hard to achieve it. When you have confidence in yourself, it shows in everything you do, the way you talk, the way you carry yourself, the way you talk to others, the way you approach problems, the way you take up challenges and what not. That confidence is what lets others know if you are capable of achieving and taking up challenges. I've always believed that, for someone to believe in you, you must first believe in yourself. So what is it that you can do to build self confidence?
You might always feel that you lack something. However, every single person is unique and your unique qualities are your biggest strengths. If each of us could look at ourselves from a different person's perspective, none of us would ever think we are not good enough. However it is not practical to have someone tell you how good you are all the time. That responsibility is solely yours. Whenever I face self confidence issues, I think of my most treasured achievements. They remind me of all that I am good at. I suggest you do the same. It also helps to remind yourself that no one can be perfect and you are amazing in your own way. Do remember that one cannot be good at everything. So, instead of trying to achieve that, why not work on your positive qualities? If you've failed many times, remember that you've learned more from each failure than you'd have learned if you'd succeeded. When things go wrong, don't give up. Look towards the future with confidence in yourself.
Having spent a large chunk of my childhood battling self-confidence issues, most of what I've written here is out of personal experience. It took me quite some years to realize that the solution to my problems lies with me. Once I realized that and worked on my self-confidence, I met a completely different version of myself. One of my friends fondly refers to it as "Zeina's metamorphosis"! The changes I witnessed in myself then onwards were incredible. I could find myself being much, much more confident of myself when I interacted with others. That made it easier for me to make many new friends and hone my talents. I then worked on all my strengths and got better at what I was already good at. I stopped worrying about all that I was not good at and focused on my talents. I continue to do that today. It is human to be put off by failures, but once you over come that disappointment, success is not very far off. If you do not realize your worth, no one will.
