I know what it feels like to “lose’ my confidence. A few years ago in the midst of what should have been an exciting time of growth and adventure I felt I was losing my confidence. It was as if I was being exiled from my real self and the life I worked hard to build.
Three insights and a quotation helped me to understand what was happening and to rust I would get through it.
Insight No. 1: I had to accept what was going on in order to let go of whatever was undermining my confidence.
Insight No. 2: I need to get help and support from someone / people who got what I was going through.
Insight No. 3: Confidence is not fixed, it is not something we hold in isolation but rather something that emerges as a result of our relationships with people, places, events…
On the longest and darkest of those days I read a quote from Martin Buber “We can be redeemed only to the extent to which we see ourselves.’ The light came back into my soul through the cracks in my fear and confusion.
Understanding that my confidence is linked to how I think, feel and see myself fuelled of my journey back to me — I was supported to reclaim my unique brand of confidence based on my real self. It is with Real Confidence that I embrace a slightly different me from the me before my confidence began to ebb away.