‘Self-confidence in you’ is a short post to encourage you today and remind you of your value. Recently I read this story which I want to share with you (I’ll paraphrase the story). A guy was giving a talk about personal development, but before he started, he pulled a $20 note from his pocket and asked for a show of hands of all the people who wanted it. Of course, a flurry of hands went up.
He said that he was going to give the note to one person in the audience but first he wanted to try something. He scrumpled the note between his hands, then squashed it as hard as he could between his two palms. He held the note up and again asked the question. Not put off by the rumpled appearance of the note, hands went up yet again.
But the speaker wasn’t finished. He dropped the note on the floor and stamped on it as hard as he could. Again he held the note up and asked who wanted it. Hands went up, just as before. The people who wanted the note when it was crisp, still wanted it in its battered shape.
You must remember this story when you feel like you have nothing to give – when low self-confidence hits and you feel like the people in your life will be better off without you. They won’t.
Like the $20 note, when you feel crumpled and crushed you’re just a crumpled, crushed version of yourself. You’re still worth the world to the people in your life. They still want you. They still need and admire you. Be confident in that.
Also, like the $20 note, sometimes life will crush you to the ground with its big boot. It will stamp you down in the dirt and you may even have to lie there for a while to recoup before you can get up.
Just remember the story and be confident that you will get up. Time will make it easier. And whatever happens, the people who want and love you now will want and love you then.
The people in the audience who put their hand up for the $20.00 knew that it didn’t lose its value because it looked a bit old and crumpled.
Don’t look to external things to find your faith in yourself. Your value is inherent and it will always be there as long as you don’t deliberately and consciously release it.
Just like the note, you don’t lose your value because of setbacks and hardship. In fact, these very setbacks are making you stronger and better! And even if you don’t yet know this, the valuable people in your life do. The hangers on may not, but you’ll do well to get rid of them anyway.
The point of this short exhort is to remind you of your worth even if your self-confidence is a bit low today. You’re valuable and valued. Don’t forget that!
Please share Self-Confidence In You with someone who can use it. Thank you.
Additional reading: Caught in a Self-Doubt Trap
Image source: http://greengaged.com/blog/category/materials/
This is so true Anne… Building self confidence is very important and without this any one would not be able to achieve his goals in life. Must say a superb post.
Thanks for stopping by again, Abhishek. And for sharing your thoughts with us.
Anne recently posted..Face Lift For Your Front Door
What an awesome post! I couldn’t agree more on how important it is to have a healthy feeling of self worth! When you feel good about yourself, you attract goodness into your life. Thanks for sharing this!
JoLynn Braley
The F.A.T. Release Coach
Definitely, JoLynn. You’ve expressed the gist of the post succinctly. And good feelings definitely begin with good thoughts.
Losing yourself to setbacks is the worst thing you can do.
Jonathan Adams recently posted..Stereotypes And Generalizations
I like your site. It brings back memories. Keep up the good work!
Self Worth is such a growing concern as most people are lacking it these days… awesome site and awesome post! Confidence in yourself is probably the most essential thing to not only being happy and content but also to achieve a lot of success. They should be teaching kids about confidence before they almost learn anything else… think about it = 2 plus 2 will get you 4 and that’s good to know but will it give you a strong self esteem?…
I love your sense of humour and indeed, you’re right. Parents should teach self-confidence to kids even before they start school. Sadly not all parents take the time, so it’s left to teachers to pick up the pieces sometimes. They don’t always have the time to delve deeper than Maths and English etc.
I like your story Its really about the $20 bill It doesn’t matter how badly it is worn and battered it doesn’t change it value and worth like a person even if you had failed many times before there is always someone who will need you.
schimdth recently posted..Summoners Guide: How To be a Good Tank
Nice Article, I am very impressed and sending the link to one of my friend who in less self Confident.
Lovely story Anne,
Yes just like the note when our self-confidence is crushed, we need to remember that we matter and are still worth it – the value of the note didn’t change even though it was in such a bad state, which is what we need to learn too.
Keep fighting right till the end and keep your spirits up always 🙂
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Harleena Singh recently posted..How to Create Life Options for Yourself
Thank you for stopping by, Harleena. And yes, we have to keep up the strength to fight despite ourselves sometimes. It’s not always easy, but it’s possible.
This is exactly what i was looking from a long time. Thanks
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It is such a great site and your writing style is first class
This post really helped me, hoping to see more great things like this in the future.
What a beautiful post. We all need to remind ourselves that we are worth it, no matter what other people tell us.
Sarah Li Cain recently posted..What’s Love Got to Do With It?
It takes effort to shift from self-invalidation to self-validation but well worth the effort.
This is so true. Self confidence can make or break you. Great post.
Hello Friend,
Really your post awesome because self confidence is important for every persons and Without confidence you are not secure in your life.
It is very true. Like the crushed $20.00 bill we just need a little bit of “ironing ” sometimes to make us better. Think positive and keep smiling!
European Life Sciences
Is not it more of a mental thing than anything else with self-confidence? If one has had a great upbrininging with proper social and educational back-ground he/she is destined to have great self-confidence in any sphere of life. Thats how I see it. 🙂
I don’t think it’s as clear cut and ‘fateful’ as that, John. The whole point of this blog is to show that we can build self-confidence despite our past. There are lots of posts like that here. We can and are able to dig deep and build confidence regardless of the hand we were dealt as kids.
You can see what I mean at these posts: https://getconfidence.net/make-lemonade-w-lifes-lemons/
and https://getconfidence.net/get-past-your-past/
I think if what you said was true, a lot of us – me included – would be doomed to a life of low confidence and shame.
About self confidence, i remember with my mentor a few years ago. he gives me more motivation for reach everything i want.
Really awesome post….a very simple story with great meaning
Nice.
I’ve found that problem with confidence in my own line of work. People who have the skills they need to succeed, are blinded by self-doubt because they have been crumpled up and thrown on the floor. So they take what they’re given happily, even when it’s just the crumbs.
Dan Clarke recently posted..Work From Home Business Problems: Hiring Your Family
That’s an important point you raised, Dan. Without self-confidence we wouldn’t have the things we deserve and work for because we’ll think we aren’t worth them.
Thanks for your input.
Truly Said… Loosing confidence makes you loose the battle 50%…We wouldn’t be able to know what are our strength if we won’t try with confidence and what our potentials are we nvr gonna know….
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This is really a great inspiring story. That’s well said by you that still we are worth the world to the people in our life. The one who lose confidence will lose life.
Ruchi recently posted..Natural Acne Remedies – My Story
Confidence made me start my own business 3 years ago, and I am still going and will never look back.
Ronnie Bowles
http://boltelectricsa.com
email: boltelectric@att.net
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Awesome post.Many people are attempt to suicide because of lack of self confidence.Be confident in what you have to give and what you have to receive.Thanks for share this post with us.
It reminds you of the positive things in your life. It makes you happy about the people in your life, whether they’re loved ones or just a stranger you met who was kind to you in some ways. Because it turns bad things into good things. Having problems at work? Be grateful you have work. Be grateful you have challenges, and that life isn’t boring. Be grateful that you can learn from these challenges. Be thankful they make you a stronger person. it reminds you of what’s important. It’s hard to complain about the little things when you give thanks that your children are alive and healthy. It’s hard to get stressed out over paying bills when you are grateful there is a roof over your head.