It’s okay to be scared, often that’s a sign that you are pushing yourself towards greatness. However, it’s equally important to build up your confidence and we hope the conversations presented below can help provide some food for thought around how you can level up your confidence and self-esteem.
Marc Vincent
Self confidence is a funny thing. One day you go from not seeing your worth, to understanding how you’ve been under valuing yourself. I’ve always struggled with feeling less than or not good enough. And even knowing I had talents, I still struggled with comparing my talents to the people around me doing the same things. Read more>>
Doris Fin
My parents came to Canada from Russia in 1981. Naturally, they provided my brother and I with a typical middle class lifestyle, gave us everything, including many of the common culprits to many common ailments we know of today. While I was a very well loved child, I had a hard time loving myself and woke up tired, had acne, back pain, hair fell out by the chunks, and I even had period pains at the age of 12! Being fatter and taller than my preteen peers didn’t help with my confidence either. Read more>>
Liam Paez
Growing up in London, United Kingdom. Have really changed and shaped me. I have encountered a-lot of racism and discriminatory towards my nationality and sexuality. Witnessing people looking down upon me because of the color of my skin or the food that i bring to the lunchroom. There was one moment where i felt so lost and uncomfortable because does my exisistance is it really not valuable or something to be worthy due to the other kids in the lunchroom or classroom doesn’t look at you valuable or a person worthy to interact with. It’s more like they look at you with. Read more>>
PhyB Nelson
Well growing up my confidence and self-esteem was very low. Personally I didn’t see myself as beautiful. My mom always says that’s the humbleness within me. To answer the question it is from my upbringing. I was picked on growing up and so was my mom; the men in our families made it very clear to us that we are beautiful in our own rights. Read more>>
Carrie Pullaro
I remember feeling confident as a child. I did great in school and I excelled in sports. Everything was “picture perfect” in my world. At 13 I discovered boys and at 14 I got my first boyfriend. I became sexually active at that time and got pregnant. Not knowing what to do I hid it for a couple of months and then it was finally revealed to my mother who decided I would have an abortion. Honestly, I thought this was a “get out of jail free” card. Read more>>
Pau Aguirre
I developed my confidence after years of having insecurities and failures. I think after you get into your 30’s you kind of let all those insecurities go. I learned to accept myself, and jumped on opportunities that could improve my life. It’s all about staying positive and creating “purpose” for yourself. Throughout my 20’s, I didn’t feel like I had any purpose- even though I loved painting and creating art- I didn’t really have any direction I was going. Read more>>
Julia Hartman
My confidence and self-esteem developed through life experiences. I truly believe that trials and tribulations help us to grow and evolve into the person we are meant to be. I sometimes feel like I’ve lived many lives because I’ve experienced so many life changing events over the years. I can remember times where I felt like I really hit rock bottom and couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s there, even when we feel like it’s not. Read more>>
Veronica Slavin
Growing up, I was taught to believe that a person who was older or who was in authority, knew best. As I matured, I realized that was not the case. After witnessing many people that I had looked up to make decisions that were not quite so good and affecting me, I realized that they were only a human, like myself. The real confidence came when things got hard and I found myself making decisions that had no easy answers. Read more>>
Shari Dworkin-Smith
How Did You Develop Your Confidence & Self Esteem – Article for Voyage’s Bold Series When the psychic I had been working with first explained that I was meant to be a Medium and a Psychic I literally laughed out loud. I couldn’t believe that could possibly be true but, she was 100% right. As my intuition and abilities continued to develop, I never lost the sense of amazement and wonder about doing this work. Read more>>
Sarah Green
How did I develop my confidence and self esteem? The first thing that comes up for me when I’m asked this is that I’ve learned to be okay with the process of it being questioned. I think confidence and self esteem are first built upon the idea that you don’t have it to begin with, and that the process of finding it is owned through doing the things that make you question if you have it in the first place. Read more>>
Anna Ryle
I’ve always had a spark of adventure in my heart. I love other cultures, new landscapes, and doing things I’ve never done before and this spark led me to living abroad in London, Thailand, and Hong Kong for a total of 18 years! I can say that immersing myself in the unknown, new cultures, new languages, and new ways of doing things definitely has informed my view of failures and successes in a whole new light. Read more>>
Gernae Alexander
I focused on 3 things: doing the work, leaning on community and trusting my inner voice. Our level of confidence is impacted both externally and internally and we are at the mercy of so many forces as we grow up, it’s no wonder so many of us are in pain and don’t believe in ourselves. Read more>>
Rebecca Bush
It took me years to gather the confidence to start my own brand. Since I was a little, I had a dream of creating something special in the fashion industry, but the path to get there was littered with invisible obstacles—self-doubt, fear, and my own shyness. It’s easy to let those things hold you back, especially when you’re not sure where to start. Read more>>
Blaine Dean
It took considerable time for me to cultivate a sense of self-esteem and confidence, especially considering that during my upbringing, there were few instances where I felt encouraged to take pride in myself. This circumstance was not attributable to any individual’s actions, but rather to my own reluctance to express my feelings of inadequacy or lack of confidence. Read more>>
Kellye’ McRae
In developing my confidence I feel that from a very early age I had confidence around me in my household. My mother had confidence in her skills and herself, she always had a strong positive walk and voice that would be direct and she was always sure of herself. When she wasn’t she was honest and found the answers. My father was the middle sibling of all 14 of his siblings but he was the handyman for everyone. Read more>>
Dustin Ardine
Unfortunately, I came from a very broken home and as such I grew up in an environment that can really affect someone’s confidence and/or self-esteem. Which to be honest it affected me in many ways as a child. However, the thing that helped me fight against this, was movies and television. I would watch these amazing stories full of strong characters which I looked up to. As friends, as role models, and as mentors. Read more>>
Ali Aydin
My confidence and self-esteem have been cultivated through a journey marked by experiences, challenges, and personal growth. From my early days in Turkey, where I discovered my passion for design during my college years, to venturing into the competitive landscape of advertising and entertainment in New York City and eventually Los Angeles, each step of my journey has demanded courage and determination. Read more>>
Leah Henry
This has been an incredibly long journey to loving myself. Honestly, sleeping naked changed my life! I know, you’re thinking “what does she mean by that?” It’s exactly what I said. Sleeping nude and several episodes of the Tyra Bank’s show made me grow to love myself, my body, and who I’ve become. I have always struggled with excepting my weight and I don’t feel like I was necessarily in an environment that fostered self love as a plus size child. Read more>>
Jasmyn Henriquez
Thank you for adding that important detail. Here’s your revised response incorporating the misunderstanding about your heritage: I wasn’t the cool girl in high school—I never really fit into any group. I faced bullying over everything from the gap in my teeth to my body shape. Read more>>
Shannin Shining Rae” Watkins”
The foundation of my confidence started with a big loving family. From kindergarten through grade school my mom and dad taught me positive affirmations. My dad made me stick to a daily regimen of speaking these positive affirmations before my mom took me to school. He had me repeat “I like myself. Read more>>
Nicole DuBois
Confidence and self-esteem is something I had so deeply as a child and then lost through the constant ridicule and rejection of the entertainment industry, but now I want it back. I saw a Tiktok(of course) of this girl saying your 30’s is about reconnecting with the person you were when you were 8 years old and that feels so true for me. Read more>>
Si’mone ‘DJ Monie’ Lewis
Confidence and self-esteem are two things that truly define my brand. I became self aware at an early age and while my friends were stuffing their bras to try to fit in, I quickly realized that I didn’t want to do those things. I realized that I was special, just the way I was created and if people couldn’t see that, that was their loss. As I got older and had a daughter of my own, I try really hard to empress upon her the same values. I’m an acquired taste, and I’m not for everybody. I’m ok with that! Read more>>
Adrienne Leigh
I’m not going to lie, it has been a journey to get my confidence & self-esteem where they are today. The person I show up as today is unrecognizable compared to even just me one year ago. For as long as I could remember, self-doubt ruled my life, I was constantly drowning in imposter syndrome & was letting my life pass me by. Read more>>
Andrea Johnson
Developing true confidence and self-esteem has been a journey of cultivating deep self-trust. I used to chase certainty, believing that if I could just learn enough, prove my competence, and control my circumstances, I’d feel confident. But this pursuit of what I call “circumstantial power” kept me in a perpetual cycle of anxiety and self-doubt. Read more>>
Aleah Clinton
Fake it till you make it! I developed my confidence and self esteem by looking at examples of women with high confidence and emulating their behaviors. When I was in high school, I was obsessed with Kerry Washington’s character, Olivia Pope from Scandal. In my anxious, adolescent eyes, she was the epitome of an undeniable, confident Black woman. I loved how she carried herself and I really wanted to carry that same stride. Read more>>
Alexandra Lee
My journey to developing self-esteem and confidence has been one I don’t wish on anyone, but now, looking back, it has helped me develop into the women I am today and has given me the passion to use my skills to help women feel fierce, beautiful, and confident in their marriages, business, and life. Read more>>
Douglas Avery Jr
It’s been a journey trying to develop my confidence and boost myself up. I wouldn’t say it’s fully there but learning affirmations and motivating myself internally has been somewhat helping me in many ways. Read more>>
Caitlynn Weeden
I think this is always something that I am working on! I think confidence and self-esteem are at different levels in every aspect of your life. I might feel super confident in a relationship or a certain skill but might feel super insecure about a certain skill. I’ve learned that when I am feeling insecure or uncertain about something it usually just means I am new to it. Read more>>
Carolina Ramón and Fernanda Gehrke
We started practicing the Wim Hof Method a few years ago out of curiosity and we never thought that it was going to be a tool that would help us strengthen our self confidence so much, to the point that today we dared to share this tool in front of many people. When experiencing overpassing the limits in our bodies, with the breath and the cold, we gain the strength and the confidence to do other things in our lives, it opens our mind to wonder what else we are able to do. As we say “like in the icebath, like in life”. Read more>>
Bart Saric
If I’m honest with myself, I feel my confidence and self-esteem was and still is continuing to develop from trial and error. The actual doing of something real that is honest in response. If you can’t cheat it, only to reason with it with integrity and a solid work ethic, then it is going to teach you something new every time you commit to dancing with whatever it is that compels and drives you to be passionate in life. Read more>>
Demi Boelsterli
The ocean has been my best teacher. I grew up in a beach town surfing and playing in the ocean or rather fighting the sea. The power of the ocean is enough to teach anyone to be confident and humble at the same time. Developing a strong sense of confidence at a young age really helps me with the everyday problems that life throws at all of us. Read more>>
Kimberly Sheahan
In the depths of my subconscious mind lies a great power. One to create and shape my world with the power of my beliefs. For most of my life these beliefs whispered in my mind: “Somethings wrong with you.” “Why can’t you be like everyone else.” “Keep your thoughts and feelings to yourself, no one cares.” Read more>>
Rose Swarbrick
I am so fortunate to have come from a great family, two parents who were taught that there were no limitations in life beyond their own belief in themselves. My mother, in particular was a force of nature – she came from a small country town in Australia, had a poor childhood but a mother who was driven and would roll up her sleeves and do whatever it took to build a better life. Read more>>
Lychia
Putting yourself on the internet involves opening yourself up to strangers who will either love and listen to you, or who will be critical of you. In all honesty, I would be lying if I said that it was easy to be confident, but I’ve almost forgotten the feeling of fear after posting for almost more than four years. Thanks to my following and community of readers, I have been met with so much positivity, support, and kindness. Read more>>
Anika Davis
Developing true confidence and self-esteem takes time and is an ongoing journey, a journey that I am still on as I continue to learn and grow personally and professionally. For many, their sense of self-worth can become too tied to external factors like their occupation, title, or annual income. But for me, I’ve found that real confidence and self-esteem has to come from within. Read more>>
Lilli Dellheim
I took a year sabbatical to travel. It was a dream that took over a decade to realize. Once I was abroad, I realized almost no one asked “what do you do for a living?” At the same time, I saw a downturn in leads as a result of the pandemic. For the previous decade, I’d relied on my job to give me a sense of identity and self-esteem. Read more>>
Stephen Linsley
I think i found my confidence from my work. Which I think is preferable to getting confidence from my ego, which i think is unreliable. Read more>>
Aspen Brown
I would say, my confidence and self-esteem definitely developed most in college when I was starting to become the woman I am today. Learning what was for me, discovering what my passions were, finding hobbies that were for pure fun but that put me in my element. Then my mid-twenties was when I learned how to be more independent, and my self reliance reinforced them. Read more>>
Jakob Guevara
Growing up I always loved public speaking because it gave me an opportunity to influence others in a positive way. I grew up watching and playing sports, and I always admired how professionals perform in a public setting. A place to perform their very best in the eyes of criticism and achievement. Public speaking says a lot about your character, leadership, and confidence and self esteem. Read more>>
