What if someone tells you “You’ve seen the enemy, and it’s YOU!” For many adolescents, this rings uncomfortably true.
Picture this: It’s 10 am. You’re fully prepared for an oral presentation, yet your heart races and your stomach flutters. Or you stride into a party, only to quietly slip out five minutes later, overwhelmed by the fear of being noticed.
These are signs of struggling to score an “A” in self-confidence and self-esteem - your personal judgment of self-worth.
Struggling with self-image begins when you are going through the transition from adolescence to early adulthood, more probably when you are living away from home for the first time. That's the time when you are forced to come to terms with who you are as a person.
As a teenager you’ll have the ability to control your physical appearance with the body you have carved. The physical act of exercising usually produces psychological benefits, including heightened self-confidence and self-esteem, along with myriad physical benefits, such as reduction in stress caused due to pressure from studies.
So start with an activity that helps you know yourself better, any physical activity that improves your ability to concentrate or any activity that can refine and improve your self-image. Then take it to its logical conclusion, much as you might perfect your technique in sports or fitness.
This gives you an objective measure of progress - enabling you to look in the mirror and see manifest changes, which is fundamental to improving your self-confidence.
Zareer Patell
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