Being Vegan Doesn't Make Me Confident...

“Where do you find your confidence? A colleague of yours said that it’s out of this world and you’re either an alien or you have no idea what you look like.” An interviewer said this once to Gabourey Sidbe which she tells in an article she wrote for the June 2017 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.
I could only imagine how Gabourey Sidbe felt when those words were said to her. You see I too have and still do deal with confidence that wavers every single day. The words of others cut like a knife, even things that other people say that are meant to be a compliment only feel like a dig at me in my mind. I am my own worst critic, so my mind uses comments from others to back up whatever negative dialogue I have going on in my head at any given time. As you can probably tell this has no direct connection to me being vegan. but this was just on my mind today.
Keeping my self esteem in tact and building my confidence is something I work on everyday. The key for me is to be consistent in my actions everyday. I do believe one day I will walk with my head held high in confidence that is genuine and unwavering.

I would like to share a few things that I do to help me in building my confidence:

**Make a plan for your day and celebrate when you accomplish your goals for the day. (Don’t make a big deal about the things that didn’t get done, those will only make you feel bad about yourself.)

**Meditate. Most people believe that meditation has to be done a certain way and that’s why they don’t do it. I am hear to tell you meditation is just about quieting your mind, finding that quiet space within yourself and listening to the calmness within. This can be done on your way to work (if you take public transportation of course, definitely don’t do it if you are driving!) This can be done in the bathroom in the morning sitting on the toilet or even while in the shower/bathtub. If you are one that has a hard time getting out of bed, try meditating while lying in the bed when you wake up in the morning by staring at the ceiling and focusing on your breath. I meditate sometimes while I am crocheting, the repetitive motion of moving the crochet hook is calmative and doesn’t require much thought which allows me to spend the time focusing on my breath and clearing my thoughts.

**Saying positive affirmations daily. Even something as simple as affirming that you will go through your day being confident in all you do. You can make your own affirmations up as you go or use the good old internet to search for affirmations that pertain to confidence.

**Listen to uplifting music. The song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams always puts me in a positive space. When you feel positive the positive energy helps your mind be more receptive to the affirmations you are saying for the day.

**Be grateful. You may wonder what gratitude has to do with your confidence. Expressing gratitude makes you feel at peace with things whether those things are things you can control or not. Being more peaceful which helps put you at ease, this feeling of ease allows you to open up to yourself. Being more open and accepting will allow you to be confident in who you are right now at this moment. Here is an article that tells you 31 wonderful benefits from expressing gratitude consistently.

Let’s take some time in this moment to be grateful that we have a chance to stop right now and say. “I AM CONFIDENT!”

Make the rest of today great!

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