I haven’t always had a slender body, I wasn’t chubby either, so let’s just say I was ‘fleshy’ until I lost a lot of weight. And oh, I know most people work their butts off to lose weight but in my case, I probably became too skinny (especially to people around me).  I’m unable to quantify my weight loss because I never bothered to check it on a weighing scale, but my mirror said it all. This bruised my self-confidence.

Initially, I did not have self-pity compared to what others felt for me. Some people would quickly give a horrifying stare and ask if I was okay (you can imagine how bad I felt). However, there was a significant one percent who acknowledged how my new size made me look younger and prettier (as a compliment).

Overall, my confidence was dampened, and I dedicated months trying to get back to my original body size, but that too was exhausting.

One day, everything changed, and I decided to appreciate my body, embrace my new look, acknowledge how beautiful I am now, change my wardrobe to suit my new body size and rock my new style with my head held up high.

This self-improvement challenge was of great help to me during that period. I have made it available here.

Also I have prepared a free Confident Communicator Guide for you; download it here.

If you’re going through some trouble trying to feel confident in your skin, these are 5 secrets to help you pull through and become self-confident.

1.  Love Yourself

You may be struggling with your weight (trying to lose some weight or vice versa), the color of your skin, hair, eyes or even the thickness of your lips, but how you see and project your body features depends on you.

It is one thing struggling to see a reflection of yourself in other people’s eyes, and it is another thing seeing yourself as truly beautiful and worthy of respect and admiration.

Everyone has flaws and possesses a feature(s) they are not proud of, but that only makes us human. See those features as the things that make you truly unique and treat them as such.

If you have thick lips for instance, see the beauty in them and make them even more beautiful with your favorite lipstick. If you are spending hours a day at the gym to burn some fat, thumbs up, but do not forget to enjoy the journey and love yourself as you try to enhance your look.

Add some glow and project whatever feature you may not be too proud of. It is important to love your body for what it is now and make it look more beautiful and pleasing.

2.  Practice Self-Improvement

If you do not feel confident in your own skin, it will reflect in your interaction with other people and that is not good for your personal brand and image.

Improve on your communication skills, your relationships and knowledge base. This helps to complement your ‘flaws’ as you work on achieving the changes you desire.

Read books, blogs, watch tutorials and be more informed on current happenings in your area (if possible worldwide), and you can have good conversations effortlessly. Read on diverse topics and have knowledge on different subjects. This also helps you sound intelligent even if you are not too grounded on all the topics.

Your physical appearance can only take you as far, but your approach to conversations, body language and your perspective on issues are more important to serious-minded people.

The more you learn, the more confident you will be to step out there and project yourself.

 

3.  Stop Comparing Yourself to Other People

As I said before, you are unique. You do not want to be like everyone else because you are not everyone else.

You must stand out, be yourself and be special. The thing about comparing yourself with other people is that, it easily makes you feel intimidated and less of a person (but you are important!).

Most people are where they are because they worked hard to earn their good looks, honor and respect, and you are not far from achieving that too. So, focus on growing and empowering your body, mind and soul.

You do not need validation from anybody to look and feel beautiful, and be confident. It is all up to you.

What is ultimate is what you think about yourself, and how you project your ideals and beliefs to the world.

4.  Compliment Yourself and Accept Compliments

If it is typical of you to brush off complements because you are shy or think you are unworthy of complements, please stop.

Self-compliments are mostly difficult because we think we can never attain the heights we want to, but it is time to appreciate and value yourself.

Complimenting yourself can be satisfying, while accepting a complement can be gratifying (basically the same thing, haha).

When you wear a beautiful dress and you see a stunning young woman in the mirror, tell yourself you look beautiful.

When you do a good job at meeting your goals for the day, give yourself a pat on the shoulder (It feels so good you can’t imagine) and say nice things to yourself.

Accepting compliments from others is much easier and a great way to boost your confidence.

If a co-worker complements your presentation at the meeting, simply smile and say, ‘Thank you’, rather than ‘oh that was just normal/ that was nothing’.

When someone compliments your outfit, smile, accept the compliment and raise your head even higher. If they thought you looked stunning, then you do. Your ability to accept a compliment from another person can increase the respect they have for you and make them acknowledge you.

Do not belittle your own efforts.

5.  Work on Your Goals

Have you ever gone to bed feeling crappy because your day was unproductive?

You may have postponed writing that blog post or cleaning your room for days and here you are going to bed again, without getting it done. This is the worse feeling ever.

It can make you frustrated, unfulfilled, worried and disappointed in yourself. It feels like eating a big bar of chocolate as soon as you are done with your gym session.

To feel confident and liberated at the end of the day, make sure you set clear daily goals and achieve them (or a majority of them).

Personally, achieving my goals give me a strong sense of fulfillment and lightens up my mood. It makes me feel more responsible and strengthens my self-belief.

Do not forget to pamper yourself and give yourself occasional treats when you achieve your bigger goals (and some small ones).

Next Steps

Building your self-confidence largely depends on you and how you think and feel about yourself. Good thing is, you can easily become self-confident if you put your mind to it.

To boost your confidence, love yourself, practice self-improvement, stop comparing yourself to other people, give yourself compliments (and accept compliments from others) and work hard on your goals.

Take a challenge, practice these five vital tips and you will be more confident in your skin. You can leave your own tips and questions and I would be pleased to respond.

Join the 7-Day Self-Improvement Challenge for FREE here.

Best Wishes.