In the space of a year, many of our lives have been changed in ways we couldn't have expected. Big changes like the ones we have faced can knock our confidence, and in turn, affect our physical and mental health.  

Practising confidence can help lift us into a better mentality and boost our self-esteem, which leads to us being able to look after our physical health more. Some people are naturally more confident, but that doesn't mean that confidence is inherent in some and absent in others. No. Just like any skill, if confidence is practised, you get better at it!  

"But how does one practise confidence?" you may ask. 

Know Your Worth 

The root of confidence is knowing your worth. If you want to know your value, you just have to remember that you are child of God. Anything created by God is not a mistake, not purposeless, and not worthless.  

King David got it right when he wrote these words in Psalm 149:14 –  

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."  

Don't look at yourself from your own flawed view of what a person of worth is, look at yourself through the eyes of God, the One who created you. Since you are a creation of God, you ARE wonderful. He thinks that, and so should you.  

Praise God 

Whenever you start to feel down about yourself, do what David did. Praise God for choosing to create you as one of His wonderful works. Thank Him for your ability to think, and learn, and move and breathe; thank Him for the potential He has placed within you. 

Allow your self-esteem to be influenced by how God esteems you, and your confidence will be off to a flying start! 

Steps of Faith 

A great way of practising confidence is to take calculated risks.  

This doesn’t mean you have to go base jumping or invest all your earthly savings on the stock market. It’s more about encouraging yourself to step outside your comfort zone. 

Life is so short, and the only way to accomplish things is to actually try.  

Doubts about our own abilities are huge factors in slowing us down, but let’s outsmart those doubts. The truth is: most of the time we are never REALLY good at anything to begin with. 

The only way you can do something well is if you practise it, and the only way to practise something is to do it. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t perfect at first, take a step of faith and put yourself in the running. 

God created us with minds that are able to learn. Trust in the wonderful system He has placed within us. Have faith that He can make all things good.  

Example:  

Vison: I want to complete this difficult Maths PACE. 

Doubt: I’m not good enough at Maths to get this equation right, so I won’t try it. 

Goal: I am weak in this area of Maths, so I will use this equation to practise because it will help me improve. 

Result: I’m better at Maths. 

Pushing yourself outside your comfort zone causes you to accomplish more than you would if you stay safely doing nothing. Even if you don’t succeed straight away, these little steps of faith are an investment towards a future version of yourself who is confident in accomplishing the task at hand. 

If you want to read some Scriptures about making calculated risks (or wise investments), you can read in Matthew 25:14-30 a great story on the topic, told by Jesus himself. 

Battle Laziness 

Another reason that we are low in confidence is that we are lazy. Confidence is a characteristic that is fuelled by activity. These activities could be—taking care of ourselves, cleaning up our space, or getting our goals complete. The more you do these things, the more you feel better about yourself, are healthier, and feel brighter. All these things lead to more confidence, which leads to being more able to take on further challenges, causing a healthy and positive chain-reaction. 

Laziness, on the other hand, is what fuels our doubts, fears, and saps us of confidence. Laziness WILLS confidence not to exist. Laziness does not want to encourage anything to grow if it takes effort. 

Laziness is a thief. It steals time, it steals joy, it steals self-worth, and of course, it steals confidence. Awful, right?  

If you want to grow confidence, you MUST battle your laziness. 

If you are hit really hard by the laziness bug (it gets us all from time to time), one of the best ways to combat it is to give yourself a simple structure through the day. Take some time to write down the tasks you want to complete within a day (not too many), and use all the energy you have to complete those tasks. 

Once you have shown yourself that you can accomplish that set of tasks, you might be ready to add more, until eventually, you will have made a habit. 

"The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied." – Proverbs 13:4 

"For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." – 1 Thessalonians 3:10 

"The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor." Proverbs 21:25 

"The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway." Proverbs 15:19 

The Bible pulls no punches on the subject of laziness; neither should you. Don’t let laziness rob you of your confidence!