3. TAKING INVENTORY
Journaling is a great way to get in touch with our inner self and start to understand the origins of our self confidence. Here are some prompts that can help you start taking inventory:
1) What were some of your most formative experiences from childhood? Were there any moments or relationships from your past that had a strong impact on your self worth?
2) What was your first experience in school like? Was there anything about the environment or people in the school that set you up for success or failure when it came to feeling confident?
3) How have difficult relationships from your childhood affected how you see yourself today? Do any particular memories stand out as particularly damaging or helpful to building self esteem?
4) Are there any patterns between positive and negative reactions regarding how you view yourself? Can you identify any patterns in terms of what brings out either positive or negative responses towards yourself?
5) How have certain activities or interests helped build your self confidence while others may have decreased it? Is there something specific that stands out as having a particularly strengthening effect on how you feel about yourself today?
6) When do you feel most confident in yourself and why do you think this is the case? What makes these moments different than other times where you might feel less than confident in yourself?
7) Are there any beliefs or stories that still linger from childhood that are holding back your self esteem today? Is there anything specific that seems to keep popping up in moments when low confidence arises for you now as an adult?
8) What kind of environment do you need now as an adult to be able to foster healthy levels of self confidence within yourself moving forward? What kind of support system will best serve you going forward as someone who is working on rebuilding their level of self esteem (or maintaining already healthy levels)?
By asking ourselves these questions, we can get more insight into where our current levels of self-confidence come from and begin to make conscious decisions about how we want to build upon them moving forward. Self-awareness is key when it comes to improving our own sense of inner security and worth, so journaling through the prompts above can be a great starting point for better understanding ourselves.