Meet Mitchel James

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mitchel James a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mitchel, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

My name is Mitchel James and I have had trouble with self confidence in the past and have had to develop confidence and self esteem just because of who I am. I am a transgender male and people see me differently than others sometimes, almost like I’m not a person just like everybody else. I know how some individual’s may feel or see me under their own views and belief’s. honestly it can be a dangerous world if i come across the wrong people at the wrong time. its a scary world we live in but how i have started to come out into the world is different now.

being a trans person comes with a lot of body dysphoria and self hatred and even self love as well but it is really no doubt how hard it is to overcome those bad and harsh feelings about myself, and im not going to lie, a lot of times those feeling don’t always go away due the the thoughts, like “i wont be enough of a man” or “people don’t truly see me an a man” but the biggest thing i have done to really gain that self confidence is getting out of my comfort zone. if someone were to ask me what my first biggest step was when getting to where i am now, i would definitely say it was when i came out as trans. i came out as trans 3 years ago in 2022 and that was probably one of the biggest decisions in my life but also one of the best.

My journey for the most part i would say has been a good one even with its downsides such as getting lots of hate on the internet, or getting weird looks from random strangers in public at the pool from people I do not know and the biggest one I would say is my body dysphoria. A lot of the time I am self consciously reminded of my body due to how uncomfortable I am with it. One of the biggest thing that I struggle with is my chest. thinking almost constantly, “do i look flat enough” or even “are people looking”. even though i know that people are most likely not paying attention or are not actually looking or thinking anything of me other than that im just a guy just like any other guy out there. even though I do not struggle to pass as a cic man in society anymore due to being on testosterone for over a year now, it’s just something that runs though my mind.

for me, even though I still do struggle with self confidence, I am always working on it and I am improving day by day. there are days where I just have to look at myself in the mirror and remind myself that I am lucky to be where I am today with my transition and that the only thing that is going to keep coming out of this is progress and improvement. I’ve learned that thinking and talking kindly positively to yourself goes a long way. the more that you manifest things in life and you truly believe what you are manifesting it will come true and your mind will start to see things more openly make more room to growth and you will put your mind into a very driven guided mindset.

For me the best way I had to develop self confidence and a better self esteem is with patience and proactiveness. the more you push yourself out of your minds sanctuary the more you will almost in a way feel freed from just staying in the same closed in place that you cant seem to escape from. the more that you find yourself doing that and taking risks in life you will almost feel as if your life is back in motion again and you are more worry free about feeling so closed up and trapped in the mind or body.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

So I would say i am just a regular person just like everyone else in this world with an everyday life that consists of my partner and our two pets. I would say i have two jobs. one is making content online as a micro influencer and still working on growing and the other just a full time job that gets the bills paid. as an influencer i just like that i get to share my story as a trans person and help other people understand what it is to be trans especially due to all the hate other trans people receive on their daily everyday lives. not everybody is going to understand what is it like unless you actually are a trans person but there are people out there who view it as wrong as well and will not accept it in their life. so what i try to do is to help others learn or educate them on it. i will say, there are many people who just like to troll and have no interest in leaning about it and just like to spread hate and I just realize that they aren’t worth the time or effort.

i also like making content with my partner or even just doing trends as well. not all of my content revolves around being trans because i like to be able to connect and relate with all of my fans and supporters.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

honestly just being knowledgeable about things goes a long ways in terms of say, when i am helping people or just talking about something with them that they need help with. for me a lot of times i talk about my journey and experiences as a trans man and i feel that on a lot of topics of helping those in need id say i have a good amount of knowledge. some good skills that come in handy is knowing how to communicate with people especially when it comes to a touchy subjects and wording things in ways that aren’t going to make someone feel unseen or uncomfortable.

some advice i would give to trans people early on their journeys is to never give up the fight no matter the struggle you may have. you have to keep pushing and the more you keep pushing with your head held high the more you are going to realize that there is so much out there in store for you. your body does not define who you are it’s the person inside.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

the most helpful and supporting person in my life who has helped me so much with everything has been my partner Sierra Kai. they have been in my life now for 3 years and have showed me nothing but love and support. they have been with me every step of the way through every dull and happy moment of life since then. they have helped me overcome and face so many challenges and they have helped me develop many skills weather its just a life skill or just something I was not very familiar with.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Mitchjames03
• Youtube: mitch_james
• Other: tiktok: mitch.james

Image Credits

Sierra Kai