This post is sponsored by Famous Footwear. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make running In it 4 the Long Run possible.
You know the days that you come home utterly exhausted, yet completely energized? Yeah. Those ones are my favorites. Those are the days when you feel like you can really sign your name to them and say “I gave it everything.”
A big pattern in a lot of those days where your best work is created, is feeling like you’re in your element. Feeling that perfect balance of comfortable and challenged. For me, that feeling is what confidence feels like.
Confidence Is an Inside Game
A lot of talk about confidence comes from looking or feeling a certain way. Sometimes confidence gets confused with bravado and being loud, or needing to look a certain way before you can be confident. I feel the opposite. Confidence doesn’t have to be loud at all. It’s a quiet trust in your own ability to handle the good and the bad. It’s acknowledging your inner awesomeness and finding ways to express it.
So where does it come from? I think if there was one easy answer we’d all know it by now. It’s like so many things I share about health, it’s a personal journey. For this post, I was asked to share something unique about myself that made me confident. I first scrolled down the list in my head of things that made me look or sound different. Nothing really stood out.
So I thought about those days. The days I feel really good. What was it that gave me that quiet trust in myself that is confidence? I realized, my confidence comes from embracing my creativity. Creativity can feel like a big scary word for some folks. For me, it’s simply allowing myself to make something new. It could be a drawing, a journal entry, a photo a blog post. It never matters the medium, it’s all about expressing myself in some physical form. Sometimes I share my creativity, sometimes it’s just about the practice and the process.
I notice on the days I don’t get a chance to create, I’m not as confident. That’s why I created a visual reminder on my desk to keep creating awesome work.
Your Confidence Can Come From Anywhere
Your confidence doesn’t have to come from creativity like it does for me. Whatever that thing is in you, whether it’s having a great conversation, connecting people, helping someone, find ways to do it every day and keep building that confidence. Practice cultivating those skills, traits and passions. It doesn’t have to be a part of your day job either.
When we trust our own ability to handle the good and bad, when we feel quietly confident, we can really show up as our best selves and do our best work.
Famous Footwear is empowering women to embrace their confidence with the #stepforward campaign. I so appreciate when brands and businesses focus on empowering their customers rather than praying on their perceived weaknesses. I had so much fun shooting and writing this post. I’ve always been a converse kid, so I was thrilled to get to rock a new pair of black high tops for this project. You can check out all their sneakers, booties and Fall friendly kicks at famousfootwear.com
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I feel like no one really talks about this, how confidence is fluid, how some days you can feel like you’re the SHIT and other days you feel like…well, shit. That’s amazing that you figured out what it is that makes you feel confident and how to access it at all times! I think I’m figuring out that for me, it’s connecting with like-minded people who GET me on a daily basis. 🙂
It’s amazing how confidence has come from me learning that God has given me certain gifts and I can use those gifts and not feel insecure about using them. It’s definitely been a wonderful year of finding my niche as a blogger, as a dog trainer, and such, and I’m thankful for confidence growing.