Have you ever thought about yourself as a younger child?
The child who wasn’t scared of anything. The child who would sing along to the radio in the car without being worried about being in tune or getting the words right. The child who would dress up in mismatched clothes or princess outfits and not worry about anyone laughing at her.
Yet, by the age of fourteen, that same child would be worried about what her friends would think, whether she would be judged or how embarrassing it would be to sing out of tune or wear something different to everyone else.
Somewhere along the way, that child, born with attitude and confidence has lost it. Why? Because she has learnt to adapt to others’ views and responses to our actions. People have put us down, said negative things and knocked the confidence that we were born with out of us.
Now you don’t believe you’re as smart or as attractive or as awesome as you actually are. When you were a younger child, you did. You believed your parents when they said how clever you were for learning to tie a shoe lace or to read your first word. You enjoyed the praise and it boosted your confidence.
Now, when someone praises you for doing well on a piece of work, it becomes almost automatic to say, ‘It was nothing. I still haven’t reached my target grade. I’ll probably get a bad mark in the next one. It was just a fluke.”
Why don’t we enjoy the praise anymore and use it to build our confidence? Usually because someone has said something negative to us at some point or because we are comparing ourselves to others.
And what does this achieve? Feeling less confident. Let’s turn it around. The next time you do something that you should feel proud of, remember that younger child that you used to be and enjoy the praise. Allow any praise to build you up. Don’t knock it back with negative comments, but feel that warm glow of knowing that you have done something well and let the child attitude come back. The attitude of not being scared, of relishing every moment of praise and of being full of confidence.
Just remember that you were born with attitude and confidence. Don’t let others take that away from you.