If you’re struggling from with your self-esteem I’d love for you to try journaling to work out some of those tough feelings. Join me for journal prompts for self-confidence.
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Building Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is all about trusting yourself. Trusting your abilities, your talents, and your capabilities are what makes for a self-confident person.
Maybe you had someone in your life that has torn down your self-confidence. I find this is always done with criticism and judgement. Maybe you had an overly critical parent or boss. Perhaps a disapproving mother-in-law made you question your parenting skills. Maybe an envious friend or sibling made you feel bad for…well…just being you! We all have people in our life, who either intentionally or unintentionally pull on the fragile thread of our self-confidence. Tug hard enough and it can unravel us.
That said, just because someone else says it doesn’t mean there is any truth to it. In fact, I’ve found most criticism comes from a place of jealousy and the other person’s insecurity. A big part of building self-confidence is simply not giving a %&#@ about other people’s opinions. If you were to gather 15 or twenty friends, family and acquaintances you would likely also find the same number of different reputations with each of them. People will form opinions and impressions of you and most of the time, their opinions matter little.
Focus on Your Strengths
A lack of self-confidence or self-esteem happens when the perception of ourself becomes unbalanced. We begin to focus or believe judgement, criticism and negative perceptions about ourself – and we become what we believe.
Now honestly, I am the worst at shaking off criticism. Like, really bad at it! In fact, it’s one reason why I held back from starting this blog for years. Not everyone is going to like what I write and I wasn’t sure I couldn’t handle that.
But a year ago, someone really tore into me. Like told me off in a way that really destroyed my self-confidence. It made me ashamed of my gifts and talents. Quite frankly, it made me hate myself. But we need to learn from where that kind of criticism comes. Most importantly, we can’t allow that to be our focus. Even if there is some truth to what is said, we have to focus on our strengths and keep our head up. That’s why I picked up this blog again after so many years of neglecting it. Someone called me a know-it-all and that’s fine. I’m going to turn that around and use it for good. Focus on your strengths, not where you lack.
Be Kind To Yourself
I remember when I went to psychotherapy early in my twenties. My therapist pointed out a perpetual bad habit of mine – being unkind to myself. In my case, it was lots of negative self-talk. I’m going to be very candid now because I want you to know, that I’m a living, breathing, incredibly flawed person. I don’t have it all together! To show you what I mean, here are a few things I have said to myself:
- “See? This is why no one likes you.”
- “You’re just going to fail. You should just give up.”
- ”If you don’t hope for anything, you can’t be disappointed.”
- ”No one loves you.”
- ”You’re a terrible mother.”
- ”Nothing good happens to you.”
- “You’re fat and unattractive.”
- “Nobody cares about your blog or what you have to say.”
- “People think you’re lazy and sloppy because you’re overweight.”
Terrible, right? I’ve said things to myself I would never say to another person. Many of us do. It becomes a habit we desperately need to break. It starts by affirming yourself every day. Be kind to yourself. It’s okay if you don’t believe it at first. Just start by saying kind things to yourself. Treat yourself as you would a good friend.
Today, I’ll be sharing journal prompts for self-confidence. I truly hope they help you work out some tough feelings and foster a kinder relationship with yourself.
Journal Prompts for Self-Confidence
- What’s the last compliment someone paid you?
- For what do you want to be remembered?
- List three physical features you love about ourself.
- How would you describe yourself to someone who has never met you?
- How do you want to inspire others?
- List three of life’s passions.
- What flaw will you work on this year?
- Write 12 positive affirmations to yourself.
- List 10 things you love about your life right now.
- Why do you think your best friend is friends with you?
- What scares you most about failure?
- What would happen if you were to fail?
- Who builds you up the most and what do they say to you?
- Describe an event where your strength surprised you.
- What did you do best in school?
- What were / are you great at in a professional setting?
- Describe something you do better than most people.
- How have you shown courage recently?
- Why do you get down on yourself?
- What do you need to leave in the past?
- If someone in your past wrecked your self-confidence, what would you say to them now?
- How will you stop negative self-talk?
- What failures keep you from living life to the fullest and how can you move past it?
- How do you typically respond to setbacks and what can you do better?
- What would happen if you stopped caring about what people thought?
- How are you unkind to yourself?
- What beliefs about yourself limit your potential?
- Write a pep talk to yourself.
- Name five unwavering life principles.
- What negative thing do you repeatedly say to yourself and why do you think you say it?
- About what are you most insecure?
- Where do you struggle ask for help? Why?
- What criticism hurts you the most?
- Make a list of things you’ve accomplished in your life.
- What is you dream in life? (Be honest. There is no one here.)
Don’t Forget to Subscribe
Thank you for reading Journal Prompts for Self-Confidence. In addition, if you’re interested in more journal prompts, see my other posts Gratitude Journal Prompts and 50 Journal Prompts.
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