Caity Healy | Lifestyle Editor

Previously, for this publication, I described the struggle I had with finding self-confidence. After ups and downs, and years of self-discovery and finding faith within myself, I was finally able to come to an acceptance of who I am, who I want to be and who I will choose to be. I was able to find techniques that made this an easier task, such as exercise. Working out greatly improved my self-esteem. I thought I had figured it out. However, this wasn’t necessarily true.

After publishing my original article “Searching for self-confidence” in issue 2, I reached a new obstacle: my workload was so heavy that finding time to work out was almost impossible. Again, my confidence plummeted. It was then that I realized: confidence cannot be rooted from only my actions, but from my perception of myself. Of course, actions are a large reflection of who a person is, but ultimately, I wanted to be confident in myself without having to justify it with my actions.

My confidence is something that is now greatly improving with a simple act: reassurance. Telling myself that I am able and that I am worth it can be greatly useful. It can feel uncomfortable to speak this way, or to have to reassure yourself of these things, but by forcing myself to repeat it, I slowly began to believe it.

By no means is confidence something that comes easily to me. It’s a daily struggle. However, it’s a struggle that I grow from everyday. Slowly, I can feel myself becoming more confident in situations where I normally don’t feel this way.

I know that I am not the only student at Western who can relate to this feeling. It’s overwhelming, daunting and can make the simplest tasks feel difficult. Clearly, I don’t have an exact, specific answer for anyone who is in need of one, but I urge those in need of answers to look for it through your own experiences. No two journeys to self-confidence are going to be identical; each person will have their ups and their downs.

My advice to anyone struggling with this is to look to those they care about for support. Sometimes, moments of reassurance can be found from those we love, if it’s too much of a difficulty to find it in yourself. For many, there’s nothing easy about getting to a point of high self-confidence, but with the help of others, it can certainly ease the hardships.

Contact the author at chealy16@wou.edu

Photo by: Paul F. Davis