Have you ever said to yourself or a friend "I wish I had the confidence to do that!" ?

As a women's portrait photographer, I hear this often. I meet so many women who, because of some life circumstance or event, have lost their confidence and feel like it is impossible to get back. Confidence is often spoken of as some sort of long lost treasure. But I have good news girl! IT'S NOT.

If you are struggling to have confidence or wish you were more confident, then this blog series is for you! So, let's dive right in. Today, I want to explain what confidence truly is and why it's so important to have.

What is confidence?

OKAY, HERE'S THE ACTUAL DEFINITION OF THE WORD CONFIDENCE:

• A Feeling or Belief that you can rely on someone (yourself). It is self assurance that arises from your appreciation of your own abilities, qualities, and judgements.

So, now the question becomes "Am I confident or not?" Read below and answer the following questions as truthfully as you can.

Am i confident?

• Do I believe that I can rely on myself?

• Can I trust myself to make important decisions (without the help of others and without feeling guilty or second-guessing afterwards)?

• Do I recognize my own abilities and talents?

• Do I appreciate my own abilities and talents?

• Do I believe that I have good qualities?

If you answered "NO" to any of these questions, please know that there is absolutely no shame! As women living in the world that we live in, there is so much pressure out there to be a certain way that it makes it hard to even discovery yourself, let alone accept yourself for who you really are. If you answered NO to any of these questions, know that I have to, and we are in this together!

My goal is to encourage, inspire, and empower women to love themselves absolutely and unapologetically for who they were created to be. This is why I ultimately want to show you how to increase your confidence, but first, let's briefly talk about why having confidence is so important.

Why is confidence important?

Imagine... knowing your own strengths and abilities and not ever having to second guess yourself.

Being able to feel like you can not only make a goal, but you can actually ACHIEVE it.

How you would feel if when you came up against something hard, and I mean really hard, you stood tall and said to yourself "I CAN DO THIS!"

Recognizing your own weaknesses, but not being paralyzed by them.

Seeing someone who is really good at something you're not and not feeling jealousy or pity, but actually feeling happy for them.

Being able to proudly say "I'm not a very good painter, and that's okay. I'm going to paint anyway because I ENJOY it."

Being able to do something you enjoy without fear of what other people will say.

Being able to BE who you enjoy to be every single day without fear of what others may do.

I could go on and on and on, but you get the picture.

If this sounds like a fairy-tale world to you, just know, IT'S NOT! You can be unapologetically you and feel light as a feather knowing there is absolutely no shame in your game.

up next...Confidence vs self-esteem