Confidence: it’s something we all want to feel, but sometimes have trouble with. Whether you’re afraid to speak up at work, or hide behind baggy clothes because you don’t love your body, there are a few ways to help reprogram your psyche to become more confident.
Are you usually afraid to speak up? Or simply hung up on the ways you wish your life was better? These are common problems for those who lack confidence. And although it seems like a difficult skill to learn, becoming more confident is as easy as developing these five habits in your daily life.
1. Meditate
It’s not just some spiritual voodoo; meditation is actually an incredibly important and life-altering step in gaining confidence in yourself. When you meditate, you go into a peaceful state where your body can slip away and you really connect with your mind. While meditating, you can dissect the way that you talk to yourself: are you mean or negative? This self-talk can stand in your way of being your most confident self, even subconsciously. Use your meditation as a way to reprogram the way you think about yourself. Start to love yourself, and you will become more confident. And scientifically, meditation directs blood flow to the parasympathetic nervous system, which leaves you feeling happy and calm.
2. Read
It’s so sad that many people brush off reading as that boring activity you had to do for English class in High School. But that’s not true! Reading is actually proven to do so much good for you and for your psyche. Constantly reading books can help you to become more articulate (for those afraid of public speaking), and has been proven to generally lower your stress levels. And reading regularly at night can actually help you get better sleep. All in all, flipping through a book–whether it’s paperback or the e-reader version–can help you to become a more calm, collected version of yourself, which is important when stress is the factor keeping you from being confident.
3. Lift Weights
This is pretty obvious if the thing holding you back from being confident is the way you view your body. Lifting weights can help you to get in shape, and start to love your reflexion in the mirror. But lifting is a lot more than that, and can have deeper implications in boosting confidence. While it increases strength of body, the activity also can increase your strength of mind. Pushing yourself to your physical limit helps all of your stress melt away, and reveals a lot about yourself. It can help you develop the strength to keep going, even when you’ve failed, or felt bad about yourself. The ability to never give up is an important quality in confident people (and one that will separate you from those who lack confidence).
4. Take a Cold Shower
For those feeling depressed or sad, a cold shower can be the first step towards a more confident life. Being in cold water releases hormones that immediately make you feel happier. The other good thing cold water can do for you is to force you to breathe deeper, creating a relaxing effect. Your body will immediately take deeper breaths when you step into the water, and this will wake up your mind and make you feel energized. Cold water can also undo the dry skin that your hot showers have been causing, which will help you feel more comfortable in your body. A cold shower each morning will help you feel refreshed and ready for the day before you even leave for work.
5. Accept Reality
Constantly wishing for things to be different can be very damaging to your confidence. Whether your hung up on a relationship that didn’t work out, or wishing that you were more popular in high school, focusing your energy on things that you can’t change won’t help you in the future. Instead, focus on what you’re doing now. And if there are any problems in your life–you don’t like your job, you want to be in better shape–then change them. Don’t focus on regret: instead, focus on reality. Being grounded in the present can help you to become more confident in your life, and later, to project your confidence outward.
[Featured Image Credit: www.innergladiator.com]
