5 self-care practices to boost your confidence levels

If you don’t take care of yourself in the right way, feeling good about yourself becomes an insurmountable challenge. You must take the initiative and practice self-care every single day. Because when you do something positive and beneficial for your mind, body, heart and spirit, you naturally start feeling more confident and self-assured. 

Here are five self-care practices that can elevate your confidence to new higher levels:

1. Education: When you commit to personal development and building important professional skills every single day, you take a big step towards sustaining your self-confidence and self-esteem. We can always carve out 10-15 minutes to read, no matter how “busy” we think we are. Unfortunately, when it comes to reading books, here are some heartbreaking stats: 33% of high school graduates never read another book the rest of their lives and 42% of college grads never read another book after college (More info here). Learning new things and reading a wide variety of books on a consistent basis can provide a big confidence boost. You evolve as a person and professional, increasing your chances of success, which further makes you feel better about yourself and your progress.
2. Meditation: Meditation is not only a relaxation practice. It can help you develop your humanness and become more confident in yourself. It helps you cultivate awareness and know your inner cosmos. You recognize your true self and accept yourself as you are. Meditation can also help you become an observer and detach from any negative self-talk. You disconnect yourself from any mental chatter and emotional baggage that might pose a threat to your self-confidence. In addition, a useful technique to distance yourself from toxic feelings erupting within you is to zero in on a positive mantra and keep repeating it to yourself whenever you find yourself ruminating or distracted by negative emotions.
3. Diet: We are what we eat. Eating better and smarter can be immensely beneficial for your self-esteem and self-confidence levels. When you fuel your body with high-quality foods, you enhance your strength, fitness, and performance, and bring more energy in your daily pursuits, helping you feel better about yourself.
4. Exercise: It has been well established in numerous studies that consistent physical activity boosts confidence. For instance, a 2016 study published in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment reported that regular physical activity significantly improved participants’ body image. And a positive body image can go a long way in boosting confidence within oneself. 
5. Sleep: It’s great that more and more people are recognizing the incredible benefits of getting a good night’s sleep. Compromising sleep can take a heavy toll on your physical and mental health over time. A study published in the International Journal of Behavioural Medicine in 2013 used a large sample study to investigate the effects of poor sleep on optimism and self-esteem. It found that those people who had less than six hours of sleep experienced lowered optimism and self-esteem compared to those who got 7-8 hours of sleep. It’s no wonder when we get poor sleep we’re more likely to feel a bit down about ourselves. Sleep deprivation has also been linked to feelings of anger, frustration and sadness. These feelings if not kept in check can easily decimate your self-confidence levels.

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