Confidence Is Skin Deep
Confidence is all about self-worth — feeling that you are of true value, no matter how you look or what others think of you. Feeling comfortable in your skin is all about being confident, accepting who you are and embracing your strengths and weaknesses. Here are 5 ways to make you more confident in your skin every day.
1. Know Yourself
Who you are is constantly changing. It is important that you recognise this fact. In order to be comfortable in your skin, you have to be comfortable with the ways in which you will change over time as you experience life. This goes for both your outer appearance and your inner being. Your self-concept – the psychological term for the thoughts you have about yourself and the way you see yourself – shifts over time and with your experiences. Don’t fight this shift, but accept it as an inevitable part of life.
2. Don’t Hang On To Labels
As children and sometimes as adults, we are given many labels – some less kind than others. And yet, it is often these labels that we cling onto as if they are a part of who we are. We wrap them up into our identity as if they are facts. But these unkind labels are not who you are. They are no more than the spiteful words of those who are dealing with their own issues. Don’t allow people from your past to define the person you are today. Release these labels and learn to forge your own identity
3. Don’t try to meet the expectations of others
This is your life – not someone else’s. And as such, you should feel free to live it how you wish.Other people might hold certain expectations of you, but if these do not match with your own aspirations, you should not factor them into your thinking. It doesn’t matter if your parents or partner or friends want you to be one thing if you’d rather be another. If you want to be comfortable in your own skin, it has to be a skin of your choosing.
4. Identify the benefits of who you are
Whether you notice it or not, the person you are right now brings with it many benefits. You have talents, skills, and unique perspectives that make you a person of worth. If you were a different person, you might not have these same things going for you. You would have different things, sure, but not these things. Try to identify all of the wonderful things that your skin brings to your life.
5. Rethink flaws and weaknesses as areas of potential growth
Where you do see things about you that you don’t like, don’t bemoan them or see them as weaknesses or flaws in an otherwise positive self-image. Reframe them as areas in which there is room to grow. Remember, you don’t have to be good at all things, but if there are parts of you that you might be able to change for the better, find ways to do that. And if you can’t change them, find ways to accept them as they are. This is also a form of personal growth.
