Image by beefy_n1 via Flickr
On my way into work today I was on the phone with my friend Angela and we were talking about confidence. She noticed that one of our mutual friends appears to have lost his.
Funny thing, confidence.
Is it really possible to lose confidence? I’m not so sure that once you have it, that it can really be lost. I think what could have happened is a change in forced arrogance.
Take this example: someone goes to college and decides to “rebel” from society, as many in college are want to do, and chooses to dye their hair blue and stand out. Are they confident? No, but many people may see them that way because they are noticed for something; they stand out in the crowd. This new, blue-haired person may walk around like they own the campus, try things they would never have tried before or given off an air of “I am so confident, I don’t care what anyone thinks.”
In many cases, however, it’s not true confidence. It’s forced. Take that same person a year later, remove the blue hair and add brown.
Now they blend in and now is when we start to see the difference between confidence and what I like to think of as forced arrogance. Once someone removes the thing that made them stand out, if they aren’t truly confident, they will lose their arrogance; their perceived confidence. The ones who always had confidence? They will continue to stand out; their confidence will continue to shine.
So take a moment and think about your “confidence,” are you really confident, or does it come from a place of forced arrogance? Confidence is something we all need, but make sure its coming from the right place.
