Even though I have always thought of myself as a confident person, there are definitely some things that still make me uncomfortable. For example. when I first started this blog I was extremely uncomfortable about taking pictures in front of people, I felt self-conscious and I even thought I was being a conceited posting as many pictures of myself as I did.
What I found it that the more I take my pictures, the more open I am to just putting myself out there the easier it becomes. There are still times when I have thoughts of self-doubt, and wonder if I am completely wasting my time writing this blog, but I realize that the whole point of my starting writing was so that I could let others know that stepping outside of a comfort zone is the only way to grow – and if we are not growing then we’re not living!
I trust myself to do things that are hard, and learn from my mistakes, and here’s the most important part – I am learning a huge lesson in grace. I am learning that I need to cut myself some slack and not expect to get everything right the first time or to do it perfectly. I know there are some of you out there that struggle with perfection issues, and wanting to do everything perfectly or not at all…so here’s to you, here’s to learning to do it at 70% and actually trying rather than not trying because you know you won’t be able to do it perfectly.
I made a promise to myself that I would do hard things to make myself better & to stretch myself, so that when I look back at this life, I could say that I didn’t waste any of it. That I made mistakes, fell down and got up again, tried new things, taught others by example, and most importantly that I didn’t regret anything.
I still feel uncomfortable posting videos of myself, I don’t really like to see myself talking and I don’t really like the sound of my own voice. As I write these words I realize how ridiculous they sound, so that’s why I am stepping even further out of my comfort zone with a project that I will be able to tell you about really soon!
What does it mean to be confidently YOU? What makes you feel uncomfortable or stretches your confidence a little? I can promise if you are willing to do one thing each week that makes you feel a little uncomfortable your confidence will grow enormously and before you know it, you’ll be doing things you didn’t even think you were capable of. Whenever I am afraid of doing something I think about my kids and what message I am sending them by not doing something. I know that as parents we expect our kids to do what we say, but I can tell you 100% that as I look back to when my kids were little, they were so much more likely to do what I DID rather than what I SAID.
Setting an example is the best way to pay it forward to your kids, your friends, your family and pretty much anyone that you come into contact with. It definitely wouldn’t look too good for me to be talking about how important confidence and belief in yourself is if I didn’t practice what I preached!
If you could set yourself one goal each week that would help you become stronger, more confident and grow your comfort zone, what would it be?
Comment – i would love to know!