Confidence takes many forms. We can have confidence in our abilities. We can have confidence in our personal relationships. Most of all, we can have confidence in ourselves. In Diary of a Submissive, Sophie Morgan shares her story about how she found the confidence to not only take what life threw at her, but also to seek the things she really wanted in life.
"The most important thing university taught me, I think, was confidence. Not necessarily confidence in myself over all things -- who'd want to be that kind of ego on legs anyway? But more a sense that I could cope with anything life threw at me with a fairly calm head and a sense of humor." Pages 40-41
That made me think a lot about confidence. Where do I find my confidence? Do I even have confidence in all aspects of my life where I'd like to feel confidence? The answer to that second question is no, I don't. That had me circling back to my first question and then asking myself another one -- in what areas of my life am I confident?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that my confidence really ebbs and flows. There are times when I'm really confident in my abilities, but then I go through periods of self doubt. There are times when I feel strong in my friendships, and then something will give me a pause. What I've discovered, after thinking about it for awhile, is that while I am fairly confident in myself, I'm less confident about other people's reactions. I need to give people more credit. If I want people to have confidence in me, I need to have confidence in them.
Where do you find your confidence? Are there areas of your life where you struggle with confidence?
BlogHer Book Club Host Karen Ballum also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.