The Real Meaning of Confidence

I believe Mother Nature placed in our bones the fear of new things. It was put there to help us survive when things were much more difficult than they are now. 

But now, when we don’t have to worry about sabre tooth tigers chewing on us, our fears are more manageable. Despite this, when facing a new thing, there seems to be 3 kinds of people:

1. “I can’t.”  Truthfully, there is not much that humans literally cannot do. We have learned to fly, we have put people in space, we have shrunk computers from the size of a room to the size of your palm, we have cloned animals, and have created new islands. We have done lots of new things. Someone who says, “I can’t,” isn’t really saying that they’re unableto perform the tasks necessary to do the new thing. What they are really saying is, “I am unwilling to put in the time, effort, and resources to make this new thing a reality.”
2. “I’ll try. Ok, nope. I can’t.”  This group starts something new, gets a little ways, and then, like the first group concludes that they are unwilling to put the time and effort in to do what it takes. 
3. “Hmmm…I’ll figure it out.”  This group has confidence. Not confidence in the new situation; they’ve never been in this new situation before. But they have confidence in their ability to figure it out. They don’t know what is all involved, but they know it’ll require effort, time and resources, and they are sure of their own ability to figure it out. Confident people have courage. The root word of courage is cour, which translates to heart. Confident people are sure of their ability to figure things out by following their heart, putting their heart into it, and approaching it whole-heartedly.

So the next time you are faced with something new, a new habit, a new routine, a new relationship, a new job, a new endeavour, don’t say, “I can’t”. Because you can.

If you could make a few little changes that could decrease your stress and increase your happiness,
​Would you do it?
​​Would you choose change?

Here’s to Conquering Stress,
The Stress Experts