+ BY MADISEN KUHN + BANNER + ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAURA SUPNIK
Theodore Roosevelt once said that “comparison is the thief of joy.” I’ve found this to be true. When I’m focusing on others, I’m not focusing on myself. I’m seeing what I could be instead of appreciating what I already am. Confidence begins with loving yourself. Seeing all the great things about you that make you, you. Self-improvement can wait. Now is the time to love yourself as you are. Positive affirmations are a powerful tool for helping you believe in yourself and your worth. Just like positive self-talk is used to calm down during an anxiety attack, positive affirmations are excellent for building yourself up during a spell of insecurity. Honestly, affirmations should be used daily to maintain a positive outlook.
I I I I I I I I I I I I I
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am capable. am strong. am worthy of love. am beautiful. have so much to be proud of. am smart. work hard. care about others. define my success. am trying. seek good things. deserve to be happy. love myself.
I cannot stress enough the importance of finding confidence from within; from not basing it off attention from others, or temporary gratification, or superficial things. I know how good it feels to get a certain number of likes on an Instagram selfie. There’s a temporary high, you feel seen, but then eventually it fades away, and you’re able to crawl back into the depths of self-critique. Or maybe you’re like me, and you delete photos of yourself shortly after posting them because you’ve found ways to pick yourself apart to the point where that portrait is not a boost of confidence, but rather a source of negativity. We all deal with self-esteem differently. But hear me out. There is a difference between comparison and inspiration. I think it’s healthy and beneficial to find inspiration in the people around you. If you see someone who is happy and confident and full of love, why wouldn’t you want to discover what their secret is? I love looking at other women for motivation to be confident and loving. Seeing others and doing things right makes me want to foster good things in my life.