The way that we talk about confidence can often be kind of weird. We talk about it as this “thing” that you either have, or you don’t. As though it’s something that you can just pop to the store a pick it up on your way home from work. In reality, confidence is an incredibly fluid concept, and for a lot of people, it’s something that they struggle with every single day. This can be especially tough for those who might once have been very confident, but something has happened that caused you to lose it. This could be a change in your appearance, having a baby, a bad break-up, or any number of things. No matter what the cause, losing your confidence can be one of the most demoralising things in the world. However, that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing that you can do about it. The truth is that confidence is a skill that can be learned just like any other. It’s not some magic quality that only a select few were born with. The truth is that if you’re willing to put in the time and effort required, you can often find yourself feeling far more confident and open than you ever even thought possible. With that in mind, here are a few simple ways that you can go about getting your confidence back.
Smile!
We’ve all heard that old cliche about how smiling actively improves your mood. Whether or not there’s any real evidence to back that up, it is definitely true that smiling has a big impact on the way that people around you perceive you. It’s a simple fact of life that people are more likely to engage with someone who is smiling than someone with a scowl on their face. Smiling is like yawning: it’s infectious. If you walk into a room with a great big smile on your face, then that can have a big impact on the way that everyone in it feels. Of course, there are those who aren’t particularly happy with their smile, in which case you have access to everything from whitening gel to Invisalign that can help you embrace your pearly whites again. Remember, smile and the whole world smiles with you!
Change your style
One of the things that has a serious impact on a lot of people’s confidence is the way that they dress. It can make you feel frumpy, outdated, and boring where you once felt vibrant and exciting. Well, there’s nothing to say that you shouldn’t be able to find a new style that you find a bit more fun and interesting. No matter what stage of life you’re at, you always have the chance to try new things and experiment with your wardrobe a little bit. Whether it’s a subtle change that only you can notice, or something serious drastic like a total wardrobe change or a radically different hairstyle, mixing things up can make a huge difference to how you feel on a day to day basis.
Change your surroundings
It’s a sad fact of life that there are going to be people around you who don’t want you to feel good about yourself. This could be because they are unhappy with their own lives and want to bring you down to their level, or it could simply be that they’re petty and cruel. However, just because these people are always going to exist doesn’t mean that you need to keep letting them impact your own life. If there are toxic people around you who make you feel worse about yourself, then it’s totally okay to cut those people out of your life. You simply don’t need that kind of negativity, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to walk away from it in order to feel better about yourself.
Get to know yourself
One of the main reasons why many people end up lacking in confidence, especially when it comes to their physical appearing is because they have a skewed image of themselves in their minds. Of course, there are extreme cases where this can be seriously harmful, but many of us struggle with some form of this distorted perspective on the way that we look. One of the best ways to combat this might also be one of the most unlikely: selfies. One of the best things about selfies is that they allow you to get to know your appearance in a way that you might never have been able to before. They can help you get away from the things that you dislike and focus more on the things that you do like.
Fake it til you make it
Of course, there’s one simple secret to being confident that most people rely on to get by on a daily basis: fake it! You would honestly be very surprised to see just how many people who seem extremely confident in public are actually a lot more shy and insecure that they let on. The reality is that presenting yourself in a confident way is often a great first step on the road to actual confidence. “Fake it til you make it” might sound like an annoying platitude but it really does have some truth to it. You should treat confidence like a habit. Sure, it’s something that you may have to put a lot of effort into at first, but over time it becomes more and more natural until you’ve spent so long pretending to be confident that you actually become confident in reality as well! This is something that takes time but is absolutely possible for just about everyone.
Of course, doing these things isn’t going to suddenly provide you with endless amounts of confidence that you’ll never lose. The truth is that there are always things that have the potential to knock it back down again. But hopefully, by taking this advice to heart, you’re going to be able to get yourself back up again rather than ending up back at square one.
