TIGHT BODY BOOT CAMP

CONFIDENCE AND SELF-CONFIDENCE

If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. 
~Vincent Van Gogh

This week’s topic is Confidence, and Self-Confidence. Yes, there is a difference. Many times, people have plenty of confidence when they are with their friends, in a group, with their Bestie, or significant other. Many times when you take the other people out of the equation, the person left may not be too comfortable, or confident, any longer.

In other words, self-confidence is found to be lacking, even though the individual can be quite talented, and great when in a group, or when in someone else’s company with whom they are familiar. This is one difference between confidence, and self-confidence.


CONFIDENCE:

To succeed at anything one desires to achieve in life, they must start somewhere. Most people will only try once they have built up a fair degree of confidence in regards to the task at hand. Others, will not try at all, for they have already determined themselves to be a failure. ‘As you say, so it is’. Yet others, such as the Warrior, examines the situation, carefully. The Warrior goes within to find if the venture is to his benefit or not.... Will it help him grow? For what purpose does it serve? Will it help someone out? Once a Warrior makes a decision to go for it, he goes, fully confident, and self-confident, whether he has experienced it before, or not.

These three different approaches are all to be respected, for it is each individual’s journey, and we know not the contract another has come here to fulfill. We can only judge for ourselves.

Those lacking confidence generally will be found in jobs, and so forth, that place them in a position of servitude. “Your wish is my command.” They prefer not to be the one ‘calling the shots’, but rather have a ‘just tell me what I need to do, and I’ll do it’, type of personality. They have no desire to progress/rise to a CEO position, they rarely ask for a raise, and they prefer to be left to their job, routine, etc., and are very good at it.

The day an individual desire’s to acquire confidence, is the day they welcome a certain degree of risk into their life, and ego. Generally, this is how one acquire’s confidence, through successful risk taking. It can be a

risk associated with a job, a relationship, a challenge your best friend dangles in front of you, a bet with your spouse, running your first race, or doing your first competition. In other words, opportunities for building confidence abound all around us, each and every day. We simply pick and choose.

So, if you’re looking to gain more confidence, then begin seeking those opportunities, embrace them, you have nothing to lose. 

SELF-CONFIDENCE:

Self-confidence is just that, being confident in yourself: Your appearance, strengths, speech, mannerisms, communication skills, work ethic, abilities, skills, and so forth.

People who are self-confident radiate confidence, and they come in all shapes and sizes, with every variance imaginable. Some are blind, some are obese, some in a wheelchair, some bald, tall, short, loud, quiet, the list goes on, and on. What others use as a reason not to be confident, these people turn inside out. They begin with themselves. They care not what another thinks, or believes them, ‘to be’. They are out to live, achieve, grow, and would rather not fail, but if they do, they simply look at it as a learning opportunity, they never ‘failed’, they learned. One only fails when they learn nothing from the experience.

To build self-confidence require’s a person to put their ego aside. One must stop allowing others expressions, words, comments, dismay, giggles, whatever.... to control them. This requires the ego to take a vacation, relax.

The sooner one can accept themselves for who they are, and not based on what they feel they can or cannot do, nor what they do or do not look like, and so forth, the better. In other words, the self-judgement must stop. This is solely the ego’s territory.

Accept self. Believe in self. Talk nice to self. Treat self as you would treat your best friend. Nurture self. Observe self. Reward self. Pat self on the back for a day well done. Sing with self. Dance with self. Do not be afraid of self. Embrace self. 

It is up to each of us to help and nurture those along the way. No one needs Joe Schmoe flipping unnecessary comments, but everyone can use an honest word of encouragement. We all have our days. Some days we feel like a lion, others perhaps, we’d rather stay in bed and pull the covers, hahaha!!!

Be patient with yourself and others.

Realize, you truly have the potential to become anyone you want to be. To accomplish anything you truly desire. Yes, you DO have what it takes.

On days or at times you’re feeling like a lion, share the joy and encourage someone, it can even be a complete stranger.

Then, Karma comes around, and on a day when you’re feeling less than a lion, someone is bound to send a word of encouragement, a compliment, or something of the sort, your way. Sometimes, this is all it takes to turn one’s ‘day’ around (day meaning perception). 

WARRIORS:

Warriors have an innate drive, confidence, and desire to ‘do the work’, whatever the war may be. No more. No less.