I’m going to be honest, I don’t always feel confident every single day. I used to wonder why it seemed so effortless for some women. Why didn’t I have that self-confidence in me all the time. Then I realized something BIG – self confidence needs to be nourished every day and feeling self confident isn’t going to always be a constant. There are days I feel super confident and nothing or no one can get me down. Then there are days that all I want to do is hide in the shadows. I realized this is totally normal and I don’t think feeling self confident all the time even exists! I do know one thing for sure, the more I nourish my self confidence, the more it grows and I want to shine. I want to share seven ways that I nourish my self-confidence daily.
Moving My Body
Moving my body and exercising is super important to me. I started working out from a young age and I love the way it made me feel. I carry that feeling with me today. Even though my workout style and routine has changed over the years, one thing remains the same. I feel absolutely amazing after my workout! When I’m moving my body the world seems to stop. I don’t focus on anything except getting my butt moving and my sweat on! My favorite ways to move my body are resistance training, boxing and dancing. I feel strong and confident when I feel the pump after lifting weights or punching when I box. When I dance I let go of all my worries and move to the rhythm of the music. I love feeling the lean muscle on my body from moving my body and my confidence soars.
Healthy Eating
My body does not lie to me – if I eat like shit I feel like shit! My skin looks dull and my joints are flipping me the bird! When I eat healthy, nourishing foods my body feels amazing, my skin glows and my joints are happy! Trust me I love a good burger and have had my share of love affairs with peanut butter and chocolate. Eating healthy makes me feel and look good. I love how my body feels when it’s energized from the right foods. It gives me the energy I need for my workouts and for the day. When I eat healthy, clean foods 80% of the time my body thanks me for it. My joints, muscles and skin thank me too. I can see and feel the difference and this boosts my confidence.
Journaling
I’ve been journaling for quite some time and it’s been a game changer for me. Journaling is such an amazing way to transform your mindset and your beliefs. Some of the beliefs I had about myself affected my self-confidence. I would be super hard on myself because I didn’t think I was good enough, fit enough, pretty enough, etc. Over time, I learned that these beliefs are false and that I was the only one that was making these real. I was being super hard on myself and journaling helped change my beliefs and increase my self-confidence. One of my favorite techniques is using I AM statements. Writing positive affirmations like I AM statements taps into your subconscious mind. These are always written in the positive, present tense as if they already happened. This is powerful and makes a positive shift in beliefs you may have about your self-confidence.
Here’s an example:
I AM fit and strong
I AM sexy and look amazing in my new dress
I AM confident and beautiful
I love to use I AM statements when I have a new goal I’ve set for myself. It could be a health goal, body goal or life goal but I AM statements help get my mind on board with achieving my goal.
Positive Visualization
Positive visualization is a powerful way to increase your self-confidence and help you reach any goals. Whenever I had a weight loss goal in mind, I would use positive visualization. When I would visualize the way I wanted my body to look it always made such a difference! It would give me the confidence I needed to continue to reach that goal. The key to using visualization is to really feel it inside you. If you have a health or body goal then visualize you reaching that goal. I mean close your eyes and really visualize yourself being at your health or body goal. What do you feel like? What can you do now? How do you look like? Feeling it and believing it before you see it will help increase your manifesting ability to make it a reality. This also helps to re-wire your brain and reinforces a positive mindset and law of attraction.
Treating Myself
Who doesn’t love a great spa day or getting those earrings you’ve been eyeing am I right! I don’t wait for a special occasion to treat myself. I treat myself in all sorts of ways because I am worth it and why not! I like to get my nails done every month because it makes me feel good and sexy. I could live in dresses and sandals so when I see a dress I absolutely love I buy it without hesitation. I light a candle almost every night so when I find a scent I like in a coconut or soy base I buy it. Sometimes treating myself is as simple as walking along the water with some hazelnut gelato or taking a bubble bath with candles. It makes me feel good when I treat myself and it builds my self-confidence. I don’t need to wait for anyone to do it for me because I already know I’m worth it!
Loving Myself
I know this can be a tough one for many women. I hear a lot of “when I lose the weight I’ll be happy” or “when I fit in my jeans I’ll be happy”. I used to say this all the time myself. I mean I’m overweight, unhappy and definitely don’t like how I look or feel! How can I love myself like this? One day I was reading a book about weight loss and body confidence and it said something that has stuck with me. It said weight loss is the side effect of loving yourself. Wow, mind blown! I always thought I had to lose the weight to really like myself. Then I wondered why I always gained the weight back or sabotaged my health goals and gave up. I realized it’s because I didn’t think I was worth it enough and didn’t love myself enough. Only when I decided to be more gentle with myself and tell myself I’m worth it, the weight began to come off and stay off. I needed to love myself now to see long term results.
Having Gratitude
I practice gratitude daily. I write down 3 things I am grateful for each day in my journal. It definitely changes my perspective and keeps me focused on staying more positive. I’m grateful to my body for keeping me moving. I’m grateful to my muscles for keeping me strong. I’m grateful to my joints when they feel good and keep me active. I’m grateful for so many things about my body and my life. Life is short and I’m grateful for each new day I have to live this life and be healthy while I’m doing it.
Confidence needs to be nourished lovely! Just like you need the right foods to nourish your body so it’s healthy, you need to nourish your confidence so it’s healthy too! The key is to find what works for you, do it daily and watch your confidence grow!
Your friend and strategist,
