Confidence is silent... insecurities are loud!

Confidence is the power to rely on yourself.  Confidence ultimately comes from within, and though others can encourage us to use that confidence, we have the power to choose how we will. There are many ways to be confident: you can have confidence to win a game for a sport, or the confidence to give a public speech. There is however, a fine line between having a sure confidence and becoming prideful. Being humble is a choice, to not brag about your capabilities and to have good sportsmanship. On both ends of the confidence scale, you find those who are over confident, and also those who lack any confidence. Those who are confident don't purposely display this inner strength, it's those who wear their insecurities that can't find this silence.

Media tells young people to "Be Yourself" but they never stress the fine print, "Be Yourself, but only if..." and they convince you that to be yourself you have to be someone who dresses a certain way, or wears all kinds of make-up, or says this, watches that, or has these friends.  So many people believe this cleverly disguised lie, and become a false person based on what they personally deem socially acceptable.

To be yourself is to have a sense of personal courage. Confidence is something your can wear to show the world who you are. There is no standard that the world has set that you are required to meet. What other people think is hardly comparable to what you think of yourself. If everyone displayed their own personal confidence, how different would this world be? We wouldn't need to compare ourselves to others, or to buy things that someone told you was how you should be. You shouldn't need to be like everyone else to fit in. Be exactly who you are and the people who accept you are the people you should hang around.

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” 

- Dr. Seuss

Don't be ashamed to be yourself. After all, you ultimately create your own happiness.