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Before I can even start an article about confidence, I think it’s important that I define the meaning of confidence and self-confidence.
What does it mean to have confidence, or rather self-confidence? Wikipedia defines self-confidence as “The concept of self–confidence is commonly used as self-assurance in one’s personal judgement, ability, power, etc. One’s self confidence increases from experiences of having mastered particular activities. It is a positive belief that in the future one can generally accomplish what one wishes to do.”
And KidsHealth says “Confidence means feeling sure of yourself and your abilities — not in an arrogant way, but in a realistic, secure way. Confidence isn’t about feeling superior to others. It’s a quiet inner knowledge that you’re capable. Confident people: feel secure rather than insecure.”
So in other words, confidence in yourself, to have self-confidence, has nothing to do with arrogance, narcissism or delusions of grandeur, but very simply it’s a feeling of trusting yourself and your own abilities, a sense of self-believe and self-esteem. I write some more on self-esteem further down this page.
She believed she could, so she did…
Importance Of Self-Confidence
Before I start talking more on how you can build your self-confidence, I want to briefly talk about why it’s important in your life. Self-confidence is important not just for our mental health but also for our quality of life.
An obvious and easy example of high self-confidence is that you are more likely to ask for a promotion or a raise at work, therefore have more money to spend on a bigger house or nicer car or just go on a nice holiday once a year. You are more likely to speak up in a relationship when you are unhappy, or less likely to end up in a toxic or abusive relationship.
When you have low self-confidence (which is as good as having low self-esteem, more on that further down) you are more likely to end up being a door-mat for others, letting them walk all over you, always subjugating your own feelings and wants and needs for others.
Low self-esteem leads all kinds of other issues such as depression and anxiety, which in turn can lead to you not being able to go to work, losing your job and maybe losing your house, all of which will most certainly be very bad for your physical health. In fact, Olivia Harvey at hellogiggles writes a nice article explaining how low self-esteem affects your physical body.
