Build Your Confidence

My blogging journey has been one delightful one, starting out as an amateur both in writing and blogging. I had no idea I could write articles that people will enjoy reading. Writing poetry was even much more of a bigger deal to me, but one year down the lane, I can say I’ve conquered and I’m still growing and learning.  Having grown up in a society that indirectly teaches you to play down compliments in hopes of being humble/modest, it’s very unnatural for young people to venture to carry their talents to a different pedestal, talk less of having confidence in what they can do or who they are. Gifts keep reducing to ashes as the embers of confidence die out gradually in most young people. Solutions that could bring marvelous changes to society are drowned in the sea of lack of self confidence, with no life buoy to keep these gifts afloat. There is the need to grow confident in who you are and what you carry. I share my journey of building my confidence both as a writer and a blogger. This journey has opened my eyes to see life in much more brighter colors, I can now hold my own; not because I have all knowledge, but just because I’ve learnt to believe in myself and what I carry. Seeing the results have also motivated me to keep driving myself to seek more.

1. Just start : He who is afraid of failure or mockery may never amount to anything in life. Sometimes people are so afraid of failing that they’d rather not start, than to start and fail. It’s an understandable fear, but without trying, how do you know for sure that you’ll fail. Those who may mock you, may be doing so because they lack the balls to try that which you’re setting out to do and once they can get you to give up on starting, you become like them. No matter how silly or amateurish you think your designs, art, articles, poetry or stories are, just believe in it and start. Put your right foot forward and you’ll find that sooner or later, you have started walking without any plans of stopping. It all boils down to just how much faith you are willing to exercise. I had no idea how and what I’ll be putting on this blog when I started, but I still started anyway because I believed I had something important to share. If it’s possible to plan things before starting, do that as well, just make sure you start; put your words into action. You’ll thank yourself later for making the decision to start even when you had no confidence in your gift or personality.

Whether you think you’re ready or not, just start  right now; there’s magic in action.

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2. Learn, Unlearn, Learn: No matter how gifted a person you are, there are still things to learn. To truly be confident in who you are and what you carry, there’s the need to learn, unlearn and learn again. You might be used to certain patterns of doing things, but there might be a lot of better and more productive ways to do that thing. Don’t get complacent because you’ve had the balls enough to start, the start is just the beginning, you need to see what you started to it’s end or peak. All knowledge isn’t found in one man’s head, hence no matter how brilliant or talented you are, you should never lack the learning spirit. That is what makes you unique, because then, you would know what others have done and are doing and be able to identify your unique points. At times, there might be unwritten codes of conduct which you wouldn’t know until you decide to find knowledge relevant to you and your gift. True, that knowledge puffs up, but it also provides a platform to develop self confidence( not arrogance), it gives you and edge to hold your own and have command over your talent and expertise. Make use of the various platforms the Internet and smartphone apps provide. Enjoy the life of learning. Once you build up your knowledge base, you wouldn’t need to beg people to see you as confident; they will see it themselves and seek you out.

3. Practice and Share: Life is a constant practice. Everything that becomes a habit was born out of practice: consciously or unconsciously. To build confidence in your gifts or personality, you need to be a person big on practice. Putting the knowledge you’ve acquired to practical use; you could set milestones to ensure that you put every newly acquired knowledge to use. Don’t leave room for decay at all. Put every nerve and brain cell to use, get better at your craft. Enjoy your mirror’s applause, appreciate the audience your bathroom gives you, be grateful for the pen that keeps writing and the pencil that keeps drawing. Make mistakes practicing and grow out of those mistakes by improving, seek expert advice and directions( be very wary about this). Don’t become a hub of knowledge that’s never put to use.

Confidence doesn’t appear at the wave of a magic wand. It is the end product of knowledge and practice’s metamorphosis.

As you get better at what you do, share with others. Let them in on the great things you’ve got for them. By this time, you would have built a reasonable amount of confidence and faith; that is what will carry you through the hard and good times that’ll come in the pursuit of your dreams. As you begin to share your work, be wary of the one of two things which could happen: pride or depression. In as much as you share your work with others, don’t let their gratification be what keeps you going. Just keep moving because you know you’re putting in your best efforts.

Don’t bank your worth on people’s applause of you.

I find this particular picture very necessary for everyone who believes in what they carry or can do, especially artists. I encourage you to build your confidence with the hopes of making this world a tad better.

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.        Mark 11:23 ESV

Do feel free to add any techniques that have worked for you, in building confidence in any aspects of your life.  I appreciate your audience.

Mimispassion © 2016