Thoughtful Thursday & Self-Confidence

ON THE BLOG

SELF-CONFIDENCE

Up until a few years ago, I didn’t really understand the difference between confidence and self-confidence. 

I thought they were one and the same. 

However, once I learned the difference, my life changed.

On one hand, confidence is a feeling of trust in one's abilities, qualities, and judgments. 

It can help us in achieving specific goals we have and is based on past experiences and accomplishments.

For example, I have love quilting and have done it for over 20 years.

I have confidence in my ability to finish quilting projects because I have done it many times before.

On the other hand, self-confidence is a deeper sense of trust in oneself that is not necessarily tied to external factors. 

Self-confidence is knowing that you can experience any emotion, including fear, without being harmed.  

It is about accepting yourself fully and embracing your strengths and weaknesses. 

Self-confidence is an inner strength and belief in your worth and value as a person.

For example, when I decided I wanted to do a podcast, I didn’t even know how to do it.  

I had no past experience in doing anything like this.  

I just decided that I was going to learn and that it was going to be fun.  

I knew that there would be a learning curve and I would make mistakes.

However, I decided I would just show up and enjoy the process of learning and creating no matter what it looked like.  

And here I am at almost 55 years old recording my 80th podcast episode.

Is my podcast perfect?  Heavens no.  

It may not even be that good to some people but I honestly don’t care. 

Has it been hard and even uncomfortable?  Totally.  

But has it been fun? Definitely.  

I am so glad I have done it. 

I had to tap in the feeling of self-confidence while at the same time feeling scared through the process.  

Those two emotions are not mutually exclusive.  

I think that fear often comes along for the ride as we strengthen our self-confidence.

I believed that I could handle whatever emotion came up for me during the process. 

Now, over a year and a half later, I can say I have also developed more confidence in the skills that I have developed through the process of creating this podcast.

When we are willing to experience any emotion, while knowing it is the worst thing that can happen, self-confidence will grow.  

The ability to create self-confidence fuels action that allows us to become who we want to be. 

This ability takes away the risk of living and creating our life.

What could you accomplish if you really believed that you could handle any emotion?