Finding Your Inner Confidence

Jacket - ASOS | Skirt - Bed Boutique | Top - Monki | Trainers - ASOS

Self-confidence is a tricksy little bugger isn't it? It's a long and bumpy road to building it up, yet it doesn't take much to tear it back down again. I've been thinking recently about my own self-confidence and was hit by a realisation; 

True self-confidence has to come from within ourselves, not from anyone or anything else.

It goes without saying that certain things will build up our confidence; being praised for doing a good job at work, making someone else laugh, a stranger saying they like your outfit. While all of those things are obviously very lovely ego boosts, they're also all cases of your self-confidence being reliant on what other people think of you, your actions and your choices.

At one point in time, probably for a very long time, my own self-confidence was entirely reliant on what other people thought of me. I thought nothing of myself unless someone else did. That's a rather fragile way to be, but from experience I think it's sadly the case for a lot of people. 

The most tricksy thing of all is; how do we counteract this? I'm pleased to say that my self-confidence is no longer completely reliant on what other people think of me, although I don't think myself or anyone else would ever be able to say that others don't affect their confidence in some shape or form.

I don't have an answer or a magic solution; we just need to discover what it is that we appreciate and like about ourselves irregardless of what other people think. It can be something as small as feeling good about the way you dress, and consequently not caring whether others do or not.

Finding your inner confidence is a journey and a long and difficult one at that, but it's a journey well worth persevering with because the end result is a true certainty in yourself; a certainty that despite anyone else's thoughts and opinions, you're alright just being you. And that's a pretty good way to feel isn't it?

Photography: Olivia Lennon