Let's talk confidence

What is confidence? 

The answer changes for everyone.

Is it being comfortable in your own skin? Is it being outgoing? Is it facing your fears? 

Finding a universal definition isn't easy, but we often wish we were *more* confident. Google says confidence is "the feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something." It goes on to add an extra definition, "​a feeling of self-assurance arising from an appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities."

A feeling of self-assurance arising from an appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities.

Why is self-confidence or self-esteem important? 

Self Esteem is about the way you view yourself. A healthy self esteem means you think, feel and act in a way that says you accept, respect, trust and believe in yourself. When you accept yourself you can live with both your
strengths as well as your weaknesses.

Our self image is affected by: 
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• What others think of us
• By what others say to/about us
• What we have been taught to think about ourselves

Without even meaning to be unkind someone might make a comment that hurts our self-esteem.

The good news is, there is a lot we can do to work on our self-confidence and self-esteem, it's like a muscle, we have to practice and work hard at it. This month we'll be exploring some of the things we can do to strengthen our confidence and self-esteem muscles. 

We'd love to hear what you do to feel better about yourself, or how you define confidence for you.