Everyone feels a little insecure sometimes, so it’s about time we stopped beating ourselves up for it. Thankfully, there are many methods you can use to gain more self-confidence. Keep reading to discover 18 things you can do to stop feeling insecure.
Practice Self-Compassion
Perhaps the most important thing to do when you’re struggling with insecurity is to treat yourself with compassion. Judging yourself for your feelings of inadequacy will only exacerbate the issue. Instead, remind yourself that it’s normal to feel insecure and practice self-care activities that promote feelings of comfort and self-compassion.
Challenge Negative Thoughts
People who struggle with insecurity usually experience negative thought patterns and beliefs. As noted by the American Psychological Association, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and similar techniques can be used to identify, understand, and challenge these thoughts, helping to replace negative and unhelpful thoughts and beliefs with more positive and helpful ones.
Set Realistic Goals
Achieving your goals is a great way to boost your sense of self-worth and confidence. By setting realistic, achievable goals with smaller subgoals, you can increase your chances of success and give yourself the opportunity to celebrate your little victories along the way.
Practice Assertiveness
You may not immediately associate assertiveness with a sense of self-assurance and confidence, but it begins to make sense when you think about it. Setting boundaries and asserting your needs and preferences helps you advocate for your own rights, interests, and needs, giving you a greater sense of self-respect and confidence.
Focus on Strengths
When we’re stuck in a cycle of insecurity, we tend to focus on all the things we dislike about ourselves. A great antidote to this is to identify, list, and focus on the things we like and appreciate about ourselves. The next time you’re feeling insecure, try getting out a pen and paper and listing things such as your strengths, positive qualities, talents, and achievements.
Practice Gratitude
As noted by Harvard Health, the practice of gratitude is proven to have a positive impact on your mental health and overall happiness. Gratitude journaling is a great way to cultivate positive feelings and help you focus on everything that’s good about yourself and your life.
Build Supportive Relationships
The wrong kinds of relationships can make us feel more insecure and isolated, whereas the right ones will help you feel supported and self-assured. Surround yourself with friends and family members who encourage and uplift you with positive affirmations and supportive actions.
Practice Self-Care
Self-care can be hugely beneficial in promoting your emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Remember to take time out to rest and recharge when you’re feeling tired and overwhelmed. By letting yourself prioritize your own needs and well-being, you’ll teach yourself that you are worthy of happiness and other good things.
Seek Professional Help
Seeking the support of a trained therapist or counselor can help you overcome feelings of insecurity. They can guide you through therapeutic techniques such as CBT and help you feel more understood, validated, and less alone in your struggles. Simply talking to someone about your negative feelings can help you feel less ashamed of them and yourself.
Challenge Yourself
When you’re struggling with insecurity, it can feel harder than ever to muster up the courage to step outside of your comfort zone. However, taking on new challenges and opportunities is a great way to show yourself that you do have the willpower, skills, and strength necessary to do so. Even if you “fail” in some way, you can view this failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Practice Mindfulness
A study published in the National Library of Medicine found that mindfulness can be beneficial for increasing one’s self-esteem and self-efficacy. Even short meditation sessions can have a huge impact, so if you’ve never meditated before, try out deep breathing, body scanning, or other forms of mindfulness.
Challenge Perfectionism
Perfectionists are known for struggling with self-esteem and feelings of insecurity. In fact, perfectionism often stems from the sense that nothing you do will ever be good enough. Recognizing this pattern in yourself and challenging the thoughts and feelings underneath is a great way to uproot insecurity.
Cultivate Self-Acceptance
Insecurity and shame can cause us to push parts of ourselves away, creating a greater sense of isolation. To combat this, try practicing self-acceptance by embracing your perceived flaws, weaknesses, and imperfections. Remember that as humans, we all make mistakes and none of us are perfect, but that doesn’t make you any less worthy of love, respect, and compassion.
Engage in Positive Affirmations
While some people cringe at the thought of using positive affirmations, they can be surprisingly beneficial. In fact, studies show that positive affirmations can help improve one’s sense of self-esteem and self-competence. Repeating self-affirming statements such as “I am worthy” and “I am enough” can help your brain replace harmful thoughts and beliefs with these positive ones. It can also be a good idea to write these affirmations down on Post-it notes and put them somewhere you’ll see them regularly.
Focus on Personal Growth
Insecure individuals have a habit of focusing on their failures, inadequacies, and mistakes rather than their potential and achievements. Refocusing on your goals and celebrating your personal growth is a great way to combat this issue. Try to reframe obstacles and failures as opportunities to learn, grow, and prove to yourself that you can overcome anything you put your mind to.
Engage in Activities That Bring Joy
When you’re surrounded by people, things, and places you love, it’s a lot harder to feel burdened by insecurity. So make a note of all the things you love to do that give you a sense of purpose, and start practicing them more regularly. Remember to prioritize your own happiness and needs above all else and surround yourself with people who make you feel good.
Practice Forgiveness
Forgiveness can be a powerful thing, and it doesn’t always have to be about forgiving others. People who struggle with insecurity often feel burdened by their past mistakes or shortcomings. Practicing self-forgiveness can help you release pent-up anger, resentment, and grudges towards yourself. This is also likely to improve your feelings of insecurity.
Cultivate Resilience
Resiliency improves one’s ability to face adversity and bounce back from failures and setbacks. If you’re insecure, it’s a good idea to develop coping strategies to help manage stress and other negative feelings you experience during challenging times. This will help you move through them without beating yourself up as much.
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