{This post was originally written for CLUTCH Magazine, and while my money is no longer funny…the sentiment still applies. Go forth and BE AWESOME folks!}
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For the past few months, I’ve been in a bit of a funk. While my professional life has been clicking on all cylinders and I’ve been blessed with more opportunities to grow as a writer, my personal life—namely my finances—have yet to catch up.
While I wait for my money to get off of its stand up comedy tour, I’ve noticed my self-confidence and mood has taken a hit. Though I counsel others on pursuing their passions, achieving their goals and believing in themselves, my own journey to accepting all of the wonderful things that make me the person I am has been a rocky one.
No matter how many great things happen to me and how many people tell me I’ve inspired or helped them, I have a hard time believing it and tooting my own horn. And I’m not alone.
According to a study by Catalyst, women have a more difficult time discussing our own achievements. It’s one thing that keeps some of us from advancing in our careers.
Connie Glaser, a best-selling author and women’s leadership expert, notes: “One of the best ways to get ahead in the workplace is letting people know you’re doing good work, and many women feel very uncomfortable with that.”
So how can you embrace your inner awesome and build your self-confidence?
Follow these 3 steps:
Change your mind: It sounds simple, but changing how you think about yourself can literally change the way you feel. When we ditch the negative self-talk and self-doubt we free up our energy to focus on our positive aspects. There’s a wonderful quote attributed to Neil Patrick Harris that says, “When I get sad, I stop being sand and be awesome instead.” It’s really that simple.
Surround yourself with a supportive circle: It’s hard to let your light shine when you’re surrounded by people who are threatened or jealous of your success. If your friends or family always take a jab at your accomplishments (or your sunny disposition), you might want to consider limiting your time with them. Instead, cultivate a positive group of go-getters who want to see you be the best person you can be and don’t mind helping you get there.
Do awesome things: Embracing your inner-awesome is easier when you’re doing things that you love. If you’re simply going with the flow and engaging in activities or tasks that do little to ignite your passions, then you’ll have a hard time feeling good about yourself. You can easily change this by taking a little time every day to do something you truly enjoy.
And if all that fails, take the advice of Kid President:
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How do you embrace your inner-awesome? Please leave a comment and let me know how you do it!
*Want to be in the company of an AWESOME group of go-getters? Join us over in the #GOALdiggers group on Facebook!
I embrace my inner-awesome by constantly taking note of everything beautiful in my life and the world around me. There is so much it can be overwhelming, but it’s also so inspiring. A huge motivation in my writing and the way I live my life.
We live in this age where we’ve been led to believe that we need to feel good all the time and always ‘love’ ourselves and feel great about ourselves. I don’t think this is realistic nor accurate to what it to be a human being. We will always have ups and downs, good days and bad days, days when we feel great and days when we don’t – that’s life. Sometimes we have more things to think about, some days we have more to worry about than others..Some days we’ll have a super clear productive great day, other days there are more challenges. It’s a cycle; life is in constant flux and motion. I don’t believe that there is anyone who feels great ALL the time. If you are depressed, that’s a different matter but some days you just won’t feel always awesome and that’s totally fine! It’s important to embrace the full range of your human emotions – they are there for a reason and a purpose. I’m adverse to this idea of a perfect person who never feels anything apart from constantly happy. To me, based on my experience and what I’ve seen around me, it’s simply not real. There is a baseline level of self confidence that you hopefully feel about yourself but apart from that you can feel happier sometimes and sometimes less happy or less confident even. Striving for a perfect emotion – e.g constant happiness, constant confidence – sets more up for failure than success because honestly I don’t believe it’s attainable and there is nothing wrong with having doubts and fears and the occasional bout of insecurity!
Hey Lola,
I totally agree. My point wasn’t to tell folks, “Hey you should be happy ALLLLLLL the time,” but rather, embrace what makes you AWESOME. I think we also live in a society where we’re told to CONSTANTLY pick ourselves apart (esp. women). Instead of doing that I advocate we find what’s dope about ourselves and embrace it, even if the world doesn’t feel the same.
Thanks for reading & sharing your thoughts.
Embracing your inner awesome is so crucial these days. Especially because are in an age where everyone puts their best face forward on IG and Facebook for the world to see. It is easy to get caught up in social media, fawning over other’s lives, wishing you had that handbag, that boyfriend, that amazing vacations instead of living your own life. The best way to embrace your inner awesome is to do what makes you absolutely happy and focus on the things that you DO love about yourself.
xoxo