Confidence: a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or perfect. Believing in yourself. Trusting yourself. Loving yourself. In the past few years, through school and work, I have come to learn the importance and value of exuding confidence wherever you go. Being confident in your abilities and strengths really helps you stand out amongst your peers. It’s hard to exude confidence 100% of the time. However, I do have some key phrases that I remind myself of to shake myself out of feeling low. Here are my top 5:
You’re blessings and accomplishments are not mistakes.
You may surprise yourself by how much you’ve accomplished and how far you’ve come. Know that you earned it. It isn’t by chance that you got there.
You have people supporting you.
Your team may be two people or it may be 100 people. Regardless, people are out there that have your back. Someone out there is cheering you on. Someone is in your corner.
You have people looking up to you
Confidence is a major leadership quality and as a leader you have people following in your footsteps watching your every move. This may seem stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Look at it as you have people counting on you that have faith that you’re going to be successful in anything that you do.
You’re smart.
To make a choice to be a STEM major, you have to be smart. At times, you’ll take those really tough classes and feel dumb but you are capable and you are intelligent and your teachers, peers, and colleagues will see that to.
You deserve to be there.
You will encounter a setting where you are probably one of the only people that look like you in the room. It will feel intimidating. You will feel out of place. However, embrace it, own it, and allow yourself to take that extra push to stand out even more than you already do. People will remember you and the opportunities that may result could surprise you.
Confidence is key. It’s something that you’ll probably have to be working at maintaining in various aspects of your life and that is okay. Through my journey in STEM, I have gained the confidence to take on various challenges, speak up, and make a lasting impression. Don’t be afraid of the unknown. You will thrive.
-The Engineer
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