Confidence. We all struggle with it at one point or another and it’s probably one of the most unpleasant feelings I’ve personally ever felt and perhaps you have to. For years and years I thought that if I looked a certain way or did certain things that would make me happy and I would feel more confident. Anyone else?

Well, ever since I started blogging it felt like my confidence was going through an emotional roller coaster. Some days there was highs and other times there was really bad lows. We’ve all done the comparison game (sadly) and to be honest it has crushed my soul and made me so mad. Mad to where I start believing like I’m not good enough, like I’m doing something wrong, and wondering what that other person might have that I don’t. Well the truth is, nothing . I’ve talked about this before so I won’t ramble for too long but I wanted to write this post because I love putting small actions in to practice (if you might have not already noticed). I love writing stuff down, telling myself good affirmations, and just having a positive outlook on life.

Today, I wanted to talk about how I’ve slowly but surely am reaching a level of confidence to where I feel at peace with myself, I love myself more than ever, and I’m striving to become the best version of myself I can be.

• Owning your truth. What does that even mean? Well to me, it’s accepting who and what you are. All my life I never knew that I was an introvert. I actually didn’t even know that word existed until about 2 years ago when I discovered it doing a work activity. Reading the definition of an introvert felt so right but I didn’t want to let it define me completely. I kept telling myself that I needed to be more outgoing, I should pose a certain way for pictures, I should talk more to strangers at events, and all those things terrified me. So instead, I accepted that I didn’t have to be that way to feel confident. I only push myself to where I know in my heart I can and I take certain aspects of extroverts as tips. For example, months back, I would of never dared go to an event alone, because I get scared of talking to people. But now, I go anyway, and as I’ve said before there’s always an extrovert willing to help an introvert out and I love that! But my point is, I gained the confidence to go alone not expecting anything in return, not pretending to be someone I’m not. Just being me. That includes who you are on the outside as well, tall, short, with glasses, stretch marks, those thinks are what makes you unique.
• You become who you hang out with. So true. I used to have a pair of friends, who I didn’t compare to but I didn’t feel up to their standards with money. I felt scared to be honest at times due to judgement or criticism and it just never felt genuine. Safe to say my confidence was all the way down to the floor. But I was so convinced that I was going to grow with these girls. That they were going to be my friends for life. I was just different, I didn’t feel like I could fully be myself because I didn’t feel up to their standards and now that I look back it just made me feel emotionally low. I was raised better than that and sometimes finding your voice in hard situations is difficult but not impossible. I learned that it’s so important to have people or friends in your life who uplift you, support you no matter what and always contribute to building up that confidence.
• Just do it, click unfollow. Only if you feel worse about yourself when you see this person post, or mad or unworthy. I have slowly but surely unfollowed accounts who I feel don’t serve a purpose in my life. It hasn’t been many, but its been done. I can honestly proudly say I’m surrounded by a great community. So eager to help one another grow and that is like seeing magic happen. When you have supportive people around you it not only makes you feel good but loved, appreciated, and that helps build/grow that confidence.
• Healthy Living. Might seem kinda obvious but just here to remind ya. I had forgotten how good it felt to lose weight and how good it felt to have more energy and eat healthy. Ever since I started Whole 30, I feel amazing! Evergy wise, body wise, mentally wise, it truly has been a 360 on my life and all those things have contributed to boosting up my confidence. So if you’re ever feeling like you need a boost, change your diet, work out a bit, tone that area or areas you’ve wanted to improve. Trust me any improvement to your body will feel amazing.

Sounds simple, but I know it’s not. Building confidence doesn’t happen over night. It takes time and effort just like anything else but just like everything else it’s worth it in the end, right? When you own your truth, have good people around you, and live a balanced and healthy life things kinda fall in to place. Plus let’s not forget positive affirmations, because in the end we’re our biggest cheerleader!

Two of my fave quotes:

“I felt free once I realized I was never going to fit the narrow mold society wanted me to fit in to.”

“The quickest way to acquire self confidence, is to do exactly what you’re afraid of.”

Till’ the next post!

Xo, Guadalupe♡