If this is the first time you are hearing about affirmations, you are in for a treat. Although this is not a new concept, positive affirmations are having a moment and being revered for their ability to help you manifest the life you want while simultaneously having gratefulness for the one you are living today.
When you are striving to work towards self-confidence specifically, affirmations are an excellent addition to your routine. Affirmations can quiet the negative self-talk and increase your feeling of overall self-worth. Self-esteem can be such a fragile and fluctuating thing in anyone’s life. Having affirmations for confidence ready and available for the times you need the extra support can leave you feeling empowered and back on track.
What are positive affirmations?
Confidence affirmations are statements that you either create yourself or adopt from others that have specific regard to helping you move on from negative self-talk that is sabotaging your happiness and mental health. These statements are generally concise, and each affirmation will only focus on one thing, hence the short length.
When you practice using affirmations for confidence, you actively prioritize strengthening your relationship with yourself. And bring about a level of self-confidence into your life that supports the life you always dreamed possible for yourself.
How to create affirmations for confidence
Perhaps the most exciting thing to note here is that while there are tips and examples to refer to when you create your own self-esteem affirmations, there are no right or wrong ones, so you have total freedom to personalize your sentiments in a way that makes you radiate confidence and start to build your dream life.
Step one
Identify a negative thought, and then identify what the opposite of that thought is.
Step two
Be sure to start them with either “I” or “My” and ensure they are short in length.
Step three
Write them in the present tense and under the guise that you have already received or experienced what you are affirming.
Daily routine
It is also a great idea to create a routine that will accompany your newly written affirmations for confidence. This way, you honor your promise to yourself by making it a daily priority. Some examples of how people accomplish this are:
- Saying their self-worth affirmations first thing in the morning before doing anything else to set their day up for success
- Reciting affirmations for confidence mid-day, every day, to break up the monotony of their daily grind and remind them of their goals
- Adding affirmations for confidence to their nightly routine to practice gratefulness for today and hope for tomorrow
As you can see, these suggestions are meant for you to consider and mold to your life as you see fit. Especially for those who struggle with low self-worth, the last thing you need is another “must-do” item on your list, causing you stress or anxiety.
What to expect from positive affirmations
If you are expecting a quick fix, affirmations might not be exactly what you had in mind, but they do garner results and can bring wonderful things into your life. This is why you identify an intention and a focus right off the bat so that you can measure results in a real way.
You might be shocked at your own abilities to boost confidence and self-esteem through words alone. Your actions day-to-day should always reflect the goals laid out in your confidence affirmations, but the words you choose to start with definitely matter. Some benefits include:
- Increased concentration on personal goals
- Reversal of thoughts that feed into low self-esteem
- Creation of the habit of positive self-talk
- Reframe the narrative about a specific fact of your life
Self-love is incredibly critical for a healthy mind, body, and soul. And it is also important to note that it has been said that we teach people how to treat us. So if those in your personal and professional networks observe you making your negative feelings about yourself public, they may assume it is acceptable to share in those thoughts, and it is not.
Self-Love Mantras
Below are some self-love mantras you can tell yourself every day:
- I am strong, I can overcome every struggle.
- I am doing my best, and this is more than enough.
- I cannot be perfect, but I grow beautifully.
- What matters is how I see myself.
- I am allowed to breathe some fresh air and relax as much as I need.
- I am fearless. No one and nothing can get stop me from reaching my dreams.
- Bad feelings are temporary. I can rise above all of this.
- I am so grateful for the skills that I have.
- I will heal. I am better than this.
- Only I can control how I live my life.
- I have what it takes to be successful.
- I am beautiful the way I am.
- I am lovable.
- I deserve good things in life. I deserve to see a whole new kind of beauty.
- I appreciate myself even in low times.
- My mistakes make me courageous.
- I welcome the positive energy life has to offer.
- I deserve to be happy.
- I impart my wisdom to people. I am a blessing to them.
- I accept my flaws, and I know I improve every day.
- I will not belittle myself anymore. Self-love is everything to me now.
- I have a beautiful life. I will celebrate every second of it.
- I will entertain things that serve me.
- I choose to be myself. That makes me happier than ever.
- I do not apologize for being me.
- I am going toward my dreams with confidence.
- I love myself unconditionally.
- I am getting rid of the toxicity.
- I honor all my efforts and recognize how far I’ve come.
- I deserve to be treated well, to be happy, and to be victorious.
Positivity reflected in other areas
Even though these specific affirmations are aimed at self-confidence, you can certainly expect positivity to find its way into other areas of your life as a result. For example, you may have affirmations for confidence that pertain to how you speak to yourself, which in turn lead you to prioritize physical activity.
While you might think that these are unrelated, they most certainly are related. Self-confidence affirmations about self-talk might encourage you to stop saying to yourself that you do not have time or do not deserve to take the time to embrace your daily physical routine. But as these words seep deeper and deeper into your mindset, suddenly, you are developing fewer excuses for skipping the gym and having an easier time communicating to anyone that it affects why you will be making this a priority moving forward.
Self-esteem
One of the most beautiful benefits of a positive cycle of powerful affirmations is that once you do the work to create the sentiments and dedicate yourself to adding them into your everyday routine, your self-esteem will reap the benefits. This can be contagious behavior in the best possible way. The more you start to speak self-confidence into existence, the more in love you will become with your newfound levels of confidence.
What to pair with positive affirmations
It is safe to assume that you have created your own affirmations in an effort to feel confident in every area of your life. As you gain comfort with your new routine of affirmations for yourself, challenge yourself to branch out.
Think about what your end goals are and if there are other things you can be doing to reach them quickly and make them more sustainable. When you reinforce your affirmations with action, you create an insurance policy for yourself that will allow you to give yourself grace in one area if you feel that you are starting to struggle in another. To support that, here are a few habits you can pair with positive affirmations to create a well-rounded approach to your quest for self-love.
Meditation
The practice of meditation is gaining in popularity as people strive to create balance and peace in their lives. It will take some dedication to learn how to feel confident in the complete silence of a meditative state, and if you find yourself questioning or struggling with the process, consider starting with guided meditations until you get the hang of it.
Books and gratitude journals
Everything that we feed our brains contributes to our self-confidence, so feeding yours with literature that supports your positive affirmations is a great compliment. Additionally, acknowledging your gratitude for not just the success of your self-esteem affirmations but everything that makes your life great can lead you to a happier life that you are content with while also continuing to work on improving it.
Nature
People are often too quick to disregard the power of nature in increasing self-esteem, which is such a shame. You probably already know that the natural Vitamin D found in the sun can improve mood and raise serotonin levels, but there are other elements of nature that you can benefit from as well. Fresh air is critical; listening to the organic sounds of nature like birds or streams can make you feel calm and refreshed.
Support groups
People too often think that support groups are intended only for those who are in the midst of a crisis or need to have an outlet to help with trauma, but that is not entirely true.
Support groups can exist in many forms, and sometimes the best experiences with them stem from a collection of people who came together under positive circumstances, not negative ones.
Finding a group of people that are on the same journey as you and want to have an open dialogue about their process and experiences can only enrich what you are doing independently.
Summary
Your self-esteem is worth the investment of your time. Positive affirmations support self-love, and at the end of the day, we would all really struggle to have pure joy in our lives if we did not love ourselves at the core. Having the courage to discover your best self and your true self through introspective work and practice is a rare gift.
Do not fool yourself into thinking that, firstly, this will not require work on your part, and secondly, that the work it requires will not be worth it. Affirmations can get a bad rap as ‘just words’ or being too cliché or simple to be effective, but none of that is true. Listen to your inner voice and let it guide you down a path that works for you and makes sense for your life.
