Confidence can open doors and is at the heart of so many amazing success stories across industries and disciplines and so we’ve always been interested in learning how we can help our readers and community members increase their confidence and self-esteem. Below, you’ll find highlights of some of the great conversations we’ve had on this topic.
Dyane Oliva
Growing up, I never really had much faith in myself. I was an incredibly shy kid, always terrified to speak up or expose myself to others’ opinions. Art classes were my safe space- I didn’t have to make presentations or speak in a group, the art spoke for me. And it turns out, I was pretty good at it. When people noticed my art, it wasnt as scary as when they noticed me. Read more>>
Edna Pines
Coming from the Middle East, art was not something that was taken seriously. I was a very creative child and spent a lot of time alone being with my creativity. I was raised very strict, I was not allowed to have sleepovers and dreamed of having a sister or friend to be with me. Read more>>
Chaitra Vedullapalli
Developing confidence and self-esteem, especially in the tech industry, is a journey that requires patience, perseverance, and a deep commitment to personal growth. For me, the foundation of confidence has always been rooted in curiosity and a relentless pursuit of understanding the fundamentals. Read more>>
Edna Pines
Coming from the Middle East, art was not something that was taken seriously. I was a very creative child and spent a lot of time alone being with my creativity. I was raised very strict, I was not allowed to have sleepovers and dreamed of having a sister or friend to be with me. Read more>>
Andrew Dixon
I think for creatives, confidence and self-esteem are both something that are on a spectrum and vary daily. I don’t believe it’s something that most people are gifted with, I think it requires constant attention and nurturing. For me, confidence has always come with building tangible experience and tackling my weaknesses head-on in periods of self-doubt. Read more>>
Alrick Bills
From an early age I have always been fiercely independent. While I enjoyed spending time with friends, I was always comfortable being on my own. Some people need to be around others to be content or happy, but that was never the case with me growing up. Whether riding my bike or playing my drums, I always found things to do on my own that brought me joy. Read more>>
Percy Kleinops
The answer to this question is best answered with reference to my painting “All Parts Matter”. We all have heard and read similar declarations like what Rabbi Rami Shapiro said in an interview posted June 23, 2020 on www.awaken.com “To know yourself is to know God” and “to know God is to know yourself”; in Luke 17:21, we read that the “kingdom of God is within you”; Read more>>
Lucine Xin
I work on it every day, taking small steps like exercising regularly to maintain a sense of perseverance. I also make time to explore books and learn new things related to my work, which boosts my confidence. It’s important for me to feel fulfilled mentally, so I prioritize activities that nourish my spirit. Read more>>
Monica Wickeler
Being raised in Canada, on the shores of a Great Lake by new immigrant parents, I recognized that my upbringing was unique, my parents dancing to their own beat. My father was from a small farming town in Luxembourg and my Mother was from Berlin. My siblings and I were given so much freedom to roam as children. Read more>>
Mike Fowler
My confidence and self-esteem come from preparedness. Being well informed, trained, and skilled helps remove unknown variables from the equation. This means less surprises. Less surprises means it’s easier to remain cool, calm, and collected in the moment – whether that is a sales pitch with a new client, production day, or whatever I’m working on. Read more>>
Kristy Mickelsen
Honestly, learning to be confident and have a good self esteem took a lot of time. When I was younger way back in my early childhood and teenage years, I got made fun of a lot! I was the short heavy set girl that wore nerdy clothes and glasses that weren’t exactly cool. As I hit my mid teens I changed my image as a party girl just to get away from the nerdy girl image. Read more>>
Monnyca Gammel
The journey I’ve had to believe in myself has come a long way to say the least. Quite honestly, confidence and self-esteem have never come easy for me. Until recently, I never fully thought about myself as being enough for anything or having a true purpose in this world. Since 2012, I consistently felt lost and my mindset just worsened as I started to lose control. Read more>>
Megan Mitchell
I wish I could say it was easy to have confidence. In fact, I think that is the one thing women in particular often struggle with…self worth. Confidence comes from experience. However, the knowledge to learn from the experience is where we develop confidence. Self esteem sounds intimidating because of the word self. Read more>>
Ursula Rodriguez
Growing up, I abandoned myself to survive. Lost connection to my essence and didn’t cultivate a true sense of self. I survived through accomplishments and people pleasing. I prided myself, a chameleon, due to my adaptability. Today, I am no longer on autopilot. I am conscious of who I am, what I want, and day by day, I work on my inner glow-up journey. Read more>>
Christian Coleman
Developing my self esteem and confidence was not easy. I’m an only child and for us it’s either sink or swim when it comes to putting ourselves out there. I really had to overcome my safe space of being by myself and developing a sense of community. Read more>>
Jazmine Hall
As an artist, confidence in your creations is one of the most significant qualities to have. If you don’t exude confidence and assurance in yourself, it is difficult for others to have confidence in shopping with you. When I started my business, I gave my clients excuses for my work and the parts I did not like. My lack of confidence pushed my clients to point out other imperfections and places to improve. Read more>>
Fiona Langford
It’s interesting, I started noticing that people would comment on my self confidence, so I became curious about it, as it’s not like I walk around every day thinking about how confident I am. As a Relationship Coach, confidence and self-esteem come up a lot for my clients, it’s something I know is intrinsically linked to our happiness, wellbeing and success. It’s really the foundation from which we create our lives. Read more>>
Brittney Nicole Broadwater
Actually, it took years for me to truly develop confidence and high self-esteem. Oftentimes, my family and friends would see things in me that I did not see, but once I partnered with God and came into agreement with who He says I am, I began to operate in confidence and high self-esteem. Read more>>
Maya Fiasco
It must be said from the beginning, as the foundation of my personality – I am the youngest of three and the only girl; I’ve never lacked confidence. (totally kidding) I went through a very ugly duckling phase from middle school to high school, that season truly crafted my dazzling personality (lol). I was never the pretty friend, but I was the funny friend or the talented friend- I developed my confidence through my skills. Read more>>
Superstar Symone
With time. As a child I was a singer/performer but I was completely unaware of it. My mother saw it in me so she used to have me put on small performances for her and friends. I also have a best friend since 8 yrs of age who also helped me exercise my craft. It was all building up to the person I was becoming. Read more>>
Nicole Hinchman
TIME! PERIOD! Confidence is built from an everyday discipline of talking kind to yourself, being your biggest cheer leader if you will! I often say in the morning “come on girl!! You got this! You will inspire today!” Using positive self talk is huge! When I look in the mirror and like my outfit, even if it’s not for everyone, I say “you look GOOD girl!!” On the bad days, overwhelming days, the days I want to throw my hands up in the air, I say “you need a break!” Read more>>
Greg Leatherman
One of the most influential moments of my high school career was a teacher who taught us all how to take a compliment. He would give us a compliment randomly when we walked into class and if we tried to deflect in anyway, he would send us out of the room to re-enter and get another compliment. He taught me how to accept a compliment by saying thank you without pretending or believeing that it was undeserved. Read more>>
Austin Lincoln
Confidence hasn’t always been my strong suit. I grew up with tremendous support around me, but the one person that I was lacking support from was myself. It wasn’t until I graduated high school that I discovered who I wanted to be. Despite my conscious self telling me that I had so much to offer the world, I would constantly be afraid of the people I had to see every day when I was packing my lunch and getting an outfit ready. Read more>>
Gillian Kohn
As a creative person, I think there’s always an internal battle to find a sure, steady place of confidence. Persistent nagging negative thoughts in the back of your mind… feelings of inadequacy or questions of relevance… they’re ever-present and fast-swirling (especially given the climate of our new “social” world). But at the end of the day, it’s just noise. It’s fear, plain and simple, wrapped in convolution. Read more>>
Sylvia Larrass
Growing up a fairly shy and introverted child I learned to become confident by becoming a singer and voice coach. When you perform, you have to learn to connect with the audience by abandoning yourself to the music and giving to those around you. Read more>>
Nelleke Kuipers
I think this question is very relevant to me right now. I’ve had many chapters in my life where I didn’t actively had to deal with checking in on myself to see how confidence or self esteem was manifesting within me. From an early age on I have felt purpose and direction in my life, luckily that was nurtured by my parents who were so supportive of me going into theater and later-on, music. Read more>>
Jordan McCray
Honestly, I used to view myself as being better than everyone else. However, I was afraid of embarrassing myself which lead to me underperforming in most of the sports I participated in when I got into middle/high school. Music was really the spark to me gaining confidence and self-esteem about myself because I felt like I was really dope. Read more>>
Yolessa Lawrinnce
I developed self-esteem by learning how to have compassion for myself. I went through a healing process that eventually brought me to reflect on my whole life, and all the choices I’ve ever made. I remember I was going through a lot of health challenges and living in a foreign country at the time and one evening I found myself collapsed on the floor, and I couldn’t get up. Read more>>
Ramela Arutiunian
Being an immigrant in a new country is not easy. here, it would be best if you started everything from the beginning: a new language, new acquaintances and friends, new opportunities, and a new job. I have always loved life and trying new things in life. From early childhood, I participated in different kinds of sports, for example, kickboxing. It helped me develop and move towards my goal; learn to win and also accept defeat. Read more>>
Justin Conway
I think I was confident from such a young age that I can’t speak to how I gained that confidence, but I can tell you how I’ve lost and gained confidence throughout my life beyond childhood. 1. Why is confidence important to you. Is it because you are important and you’d like to do well in life? If so, you know that you have value. So start there. You have value and you are the only thing that matters. Read more>>
Dorothy Hadley Joly
Remember, “Life happens for us, not to us”. – Tony Robbins The question is a great question. I came from a very generationally fear based upbringing generally with people who were stuck in survival mode for various generational reasons. The kind of upbringing where when the disaster struck, people, not naming any names, would begin the usual annoying salvaging process. Read more>>
Rosemon Nyamewaa Van-Ess
Well, I studied ceramic science during my undergraduate years and looking forward to pursuing ceramic art. People have told me I am a girl, I can’t do that, and that’s for men. I have realized how, as a woman, I find myself entangled in all these gender narratives and how the impacts have made me realize the need to put myself at the center of my work to challenge the stereotype. Read more>>
Katie Miller
If you had asked me as a teenager or younger adult, I’d have never described myself as confident. Even if I felt knowledgeable about certain topics or skills, I was hesitant to verbalize that or put myself on display. While I think age and general life experience has naturally helped me, there’s also been some specific efforts on my part to present more confidently. Read more>>
Aaron Zona
Confidence, there is nothing as powerful that can come out of someone’s mouth telling you that you “cannot” do something . I always took those words as a personal challenge with the goal of “watch me prove you wrong” I can and will do whatever the challenge is. These challenges in life take discipline and hard work no matter what that challenge may be . ( gym goal . Business venture, housing, relationships, personal growth ). Read more>>
Todd Williamson
The journey through the art world is deeply intertwined with the cultivation of confidence and self-esteem. These qualities are not just desirable but essential in navigating the complexities and challenges of the art world. Read more>>
