A blog of lessons for life

What is confidence? Confidence is the ability to feel beautiful, awesome, enough and great without needing someone to tell you. Mastering confidence will lead to healthier relationships, openness in trying new things, better performance, and overall resilience. The word itself is derived from ‘fidere’ in Latin which means ‘to trust’ and encourages others to trust what we are putting out there in the world but really comes down to trusting one’s own self. Having self-confidence not only impacts how you feel about yourself, but it helps create personal boundaries, make better life decisions, and forms a guide on how to love others. From the start, we begin building our self-esteem from cues our parents and our home environment. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we can stumble and lose the ability to trust in ourselves the way we would like. The good news is that there are things you can do to boost your self-confidence. Whether you lack confidence in one specific area or you struggle to feel confident about anything, these 5 strategies can help! I. Words are Powerful: Speak words of empowerment and kindness to yourself. Your pep talk with yourself is the most important one you can ever give. Set aside a time to do this every day and speak it until you believe! It is incredibly powerful to speak something into existence much like how when you smile, you start to feel more positive right away. II. Make a List of Strengths. Achievements, & Goals: This may

As much as we all strive for a life filled with happiness and excitement, life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Hearts get broken, unpleasant events occur, and disappointments happen. We’ve all felt pain, shame, and sadness – it’s a fundamental part of being alive. But as adults and professionals, we’ve engrained the notion that we must suppress these negative emotions. On the other hand, trapping emotions may have been taught at an early age. The Problem with Trapping Your Emotions Initially, you might seem fine on the surface when you bury your feelings. Then over time those negative emotions, such as betrayal, anger, and fear bottle up and affect us in various ways. Trapping our emotions can lead to: Sabotaging Relationships If you’ve suppressed the trauma from a previous relationship, you may carry the same doubt and fear to your next partner. Anxiety and stress Trapped emotions lead to constant fear and anxiousness even when there might not be anything alarming. A common trait of emotional repression is sometimes being unable to understand why you’re stressed. Unable to move on Burying our emotions means we can never truly come to terms with them. As a result, our minds cling to our past. The Benefits of Emotional Release The ability to validate and express our negative emotions in a healthy way, allows us to handle challenges better. Everyone experiences highs and lows. But how we process and navigate through those negative experiences and emotions, is what ultimately matters. When we can

Toxic relationships make us feel unworthy and empty inside. But when we garner the strength to leave them, most of the time these feelings stay with us. On the bright side, the closing of that chapter welcomes new and better beginnings – the time to heal, to rediscover and to fall back in love with yourself. If you’ve recently exited a toxic relationship, here are some tips on getting through the healing process. 1. Acknowledge It Acknowledging what happened, the mistakes made, the problems that spurred, allows you to come to terms with reality. To truly heal and move on, you must be transparent with yourself. Accepting and recognizing the truth, that you were a part of an unhealthy relationship opens up the doors to learn and grow from it. 2. Gather Your Network Being single is a stronger risk factor for depression among men than it is for women. And having a social support system can drastically change that. Reach out to friends and family, the people in your life who matter and genuinely care for your well-being. It’s very hard to get through this vulnerable time alone and your support system can help you on this healing journey. 3. Seek Out New Activities During this healing period, take the time to discover new interests and hobbies. These new experiences can spark greater joy and add excitement to your life. So go on that solo hike you’ve always wanted to try, take up that new hobby that you’ve never