What is one thing about yourself you take pride in? What is something you have difficulty praising or accepting?
~ “I have pride in my maturity. I have difficulty accepting that I have a voice. “
Who is an example of someone with great levels of confidence in your life? How do they carry themselves?
~ “My friend – he really appreciates himself I guess and is able to recognize when he does well.”
When/how does confidence become arrogance?
~ “I think it’s when the honesty of the person is lost and how they move and control the conversation. As if they set themselves up to appear better than they actually are.”
Confidence Week
Where does confidence come from, who gets it, and what are the limits of confidence without turning to arrogance? It’s an important and engaging topic to discuss one’s sense of confidence. For we can be aware of a need or desire to be confident, but struggle to achieve that outcome; Conversely, we can also see ourselves as unsure and doubtful but come across to others as capable and able to take on anything. Like so many things, confidence is a concept with many angles, so thank goodness we have the voices to help us dissect it.
What is one thing about yourself you take pride in? What is something you have difficulty praising or accepting?
~ “I am blessed with a creative talent. I have difficulty accepting that I will always feel that the grass is greener at the other side.”
~ “I’m proud of my improvement on sports and how I ended my seasons this year. I have difficulty accepting my looks.”
~ “My intellect, excelling at anything “
~ “I take pride in my ability to craft a compelling story. “
~ “I take pride in my kindness, i have a hard time accepting/praising how sensitive I am.”
~ “I take pride in the ability to easily sympathize and understand other people’s situations. I put in a lot of effort into it because I think it’s impossible to connect with others without doing so. I find it extremely difficult to let go of the past and accepting that the decisions I made make me the person I am.”
~ “I have pride in my maturity. I have difficulty accepting that I have a voice. “
~ “Nothing, everything”
~ “My personality. The way I look “
Would others view you as confident? Are they accurate?
~ “Maybe, I don’t know. Maybe a year ago, but not now I think.”
~ “No, I am rather known for having zero confidence, ha. But people are noting that it is getting better.”
~ “No, yes”
~ “Yes, I’ve been told overly confident actually.”
~ “Yes. Not completely.”
~ “I think others would view me as confident as I wouldn’t hesitate to make conversation with strangers. However, I don’t think it’s 100% true. I think my confidence, for the most part, is shallow and only done to bring myself from one situation to another.”
~ “No, they wouldn’t and they are right.”
~ “No. Yes. “
~ “Yes but they are not accurate “
Who is an example of someone with great levels of confidence in your life? How do they carry themselves?
~ “It’s this blogger I just adore, she creates and creates and she has no difficulty sharing her work or putting herself out there”
~ “My friend – he really appreciates himself I guess and is able to recognize when he does well.”
~ “My boss, tall and proud “
~ “My husband, he is who he is and doesn’t care about random people’s opinions. He’s 100% himself and confident. “
~ “My father. He’s a loud talker, always cracks jokes, and never backs down from an argument.”
~ “A very close friend of mine displays great, real confidence. She does it by being accepting of who she is. She also just gives off a really comfortable vibe.”
~ “Anyone who is outspoken have great confidence, they are not afraid to speak their minds”
~ “Father. Extremely cocky. “
~ “My best friend, they walk tall “
When/how does confidence become arrogance?
~ “If they are comparing themselves and putting themselves above others.”
~ “When it becomes less about making yourself feel good and more about making yourself look good.”
~ “When you become cocky and it’s all you talk about “
~ “When you stop questioning if you’re always right. “
~ “I believe confidence becomes arrogance when someone is praised too much for a certain action/behavior”
~ “I think it’s when the honesty of the person is lost and how they move and control the conversation. As if they set themselves up to appear better than they actually are.”
~ “When it gets to the point that they think they are the center of every topic of conversation. They lose humility/stop being humble.”
~ “When you think you’re untouchable “
~ “When you feel the need to constantly tell others, when it is not the right circumstance or when you can’t accept a compliment properly”
When do you feel at ease, like an expert, or just supremely confident?
~ “When I am alone”
~ “At ease I guess.”
~ “When I’m home in my room”
~ “When I’m chit chatting at a cocktail hour. “
~ “I feel at ease at my job because I’ve been doing it so long I am a pro at what I do”
~ “I honestly feel at ease in one to one, face to face conversations. Although I don’t feel like an expert, it’s when I feel the most vulnerable yet the most effective, if that makes sense. Kinda like glass canon. Although I understand how much more emotionally vulnerable I am in a 1 to 1 situation, I feel confident because I can give my 100% focus on the discussion and the person.”
~ “When I talk about passionate topics such as hobbies and things I have interest in”
~ “When I’m alone”
~ “When I am prepared “
How are you feeling, right now?
~ “If I knew how I felt, I would tell you”
~ “Somewhat confident.”
~ “Anxious “
~ “Sleepy”
~ “Anxious”
~ “I haven’t been feeling very good recently, but it’s on the way up.”
~ “Nervous… I have an assessment that I am doing but I am still trying to figure it out.”
~ “Uncomfortable thanks to this survey “
~ “Calm “
Describe yourself, however you want, in two sentences.
~ “I am a broken machine, I can do anything.”
~ “If this means demographics, then I’m 18, female, and Asian. If not, im a very boring person.”
~ “I am not confident. I am extremely anxious “
~ “I’m a dreamer with my head in the clouds, who sometimes falls back down to earth. I’m a maker. “
~ “I am an introverted extrovert. I love to talk to people but I get easily drained from doing so.”
~ “I enjoy learning and talking to people because I enjoy connecting with people. Irl, I’m usually low energy person that flips back and forth between extrovert and introvert way too often.”
~ “People who don’t know me well enough think I am quiet and composed, a condition I like to call being in “sheep mode”. My family say I’m loud and tell dry jokes that no one gets.”
~ “I’m 23 and work in healthcare. Still in school. “
~ “Someone who is passionate and kind. Curious and adventurous”
Final Thoughts
Confidence is a strange feeling. It’s the vest of power that allows the world to be tamed rather than fought. Sometimes we possess it as a personality, other times we adopt it or lose it in certain contexts. I can ask you “are you a confident person” and you may answer yes or no. But I can also ask “are you confident in your ability to play piano” or sing, cook, write, joke, love, and depending on your relationship with each thing you might say yes or no. For me, that was one of the greatest insights I acquired listening to the voices this week. That confidence can seem like a personality trait, and indeed some people are more assured of themselves or even just carefree, but it also develops and appears in higher and lower quantities based on the context: driving, cooking, trivia, flirting, and discussing topics one enjoys or is knowledgeable. Although there were less voices than usual today, it gave an opportunity to really focus in on what was being said and the quality of their responses. I am grateful to them for the effort they put in week to week in sharing their thoughts.
Conversation Sparks
Some concepts worth exploring alongside confidence: pride, hope, faith, insecurity, misfortune, luck. How does assurance given through faith or hope affect our overall confidence? Do we feel better or worse when [good or bad] luck feels like a large factor in our lives? How do we overcome insecurities, which ones have we overcome in the past? How does misfortune shape our own self-confidence, how resilient are we?
Thank you for reading and joining in on the conversation with the voices and me. If you want to start a new conversation, check out last week’s post on curiosity or if you want something that pairs well with confidence, check out music week. We’ve been making some changes to the way the Instagram, Facebook, and blogs work together for both balance, aesthetics, and time investments. Overall it should stop the Instagram and Facebook from taking the purpose of the blog, while still supporting its growth so be sure to check those out as well! That’s all for today, hope you had a great week, until next time!