confidence

I know that what I will tell you today may not apply to everyone. But this is how I got more confident. This is not a guaranteed way of gaining confidence but in this case it worked for me.

When I was younger I was quite boyish and had a lot of acne. Around the time I was 13 I started to feel like I wanted to change. For once I wanted to wear a pretty dress. Like the once I saw on tv. Before I always put on a fight whenever my mom made me wear a dress or a skirt. I hated everything that was related to girls. But once I turned 13 it changed.

I had a party for a wedding anniversary. For that occasion I was able to wear a dress that I wanted to wear. So I went shopping with my mom and sister and bought a dress. I didn’t use any make up at that time.

I was scared that if I changed to much in one go people would think of me as someone weird.  So when my friends bought some make up for me, I was a bit hesitant to wear it at first. So I started with a bit of mascara. It was so subtle that you probably didn’t even notice that I was wearing it.

I remember that I got more and more insecure about my acne. Most of the time it was because people were pointing it out to me, asking if wanted to get rid of it. To be honest, yes I wanted to get rid of it so badly but I knew that it wouldn’t just disappear. So I visited a doctor since just cleaning my face didn’t help.

The doctor gave me some pills. They helped for a while but the acne came back and once again I lost a bit of confidence. But at this time I was already more into makeup. So to cover it up I used bb creams and concealer. This did help and I gained more confidence about myself.

It was actually on a holiday in China that I gained the most confidence in my life. People over there seemed to be jealous over my insecurities. At that moment I realized that I should not be looking at what I like about others but what I like about myself.

To push my own limits even more I went on an exchange year abroad. This year forced me to gain the confidence and approach people. This does not mean that I can approach anyone I want but it means I am more comfortable talking to people I don’t know.

I also noticed that on days I feel good about myself whether I am wearing makeup or not people act nicer to me and show more interest in me. On days I feel bad people show concern but mostly leave me alone.

So I learned that the way people see me affects me a lot but also the way I see myself is something that can change people’s opinions about me and can change my own opinion about myself.

Getting compliments is also a great help with confidence so please don’t forget to give your loved ones a compliment once in a while cause it can work a miracle.