Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Featured Blogger: Amanda

While I am wasting the days away in wine country, I asked some of my wonderful readers to take over some of the posting for me.

Amanda from, Let Me Be Whats Underneath, is a very inspiring young woman who has some profound things to share.  She writes on her experience and voices her opinions on health and happiness and everything in between.

Thanks Amanda for sharing some of your passion with us all!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Hi everyone! :)

My name is Amanda and I blog over at http://letmebewhatsunderneath.wordpress.com. My blog is about a little bit of everything, including- dealing with everyday stressors, finding happiness and maintaining a positive attitude, running, friendships and relationships, work, and more. I am somewhat new to the blogging community and feel absolutely thrilled to be doing a guest post for Lauren. I love reading her blog-- her healthy lifestyle and positive attitude truly inspires me!

****************************************************************************************



Today, I'd like to talk about a topic which I consider to be a huge part of healthy living-- self-confidence. Up until recently, I have been reluctant to talk about my struggle with self-confidence, but I'd like to share my story with all of you.



Growing up, throughout middle school and high school, I really struggled with my self-esteem and feeling confident in myself and my abilities. I felt awkward...and uncoordinated....and nerdy.....and unpopular. I was involved in almost every community service club/activity you could think of and ranked 4th in my class, but couldn't recognize my strengths. I couldn't see all of the positives. I couldn't feel proud of myself.








As a teenager, I constantly questioned myself.



Am I pretty enough?

Am I smart enough?

Am I good enough?


This mindset lasted through middle school, high school, and even throughout part of college. I was successful in college, though-- I went to a small liberal arts college, and I excelled in academics and elsewhere in campus activities. Bit by bit, I soon started to recognize my sucesses. I began to proactively recognize my negative thoughts and work to counteract them.



Instead of always saying to myself: "I could've done better" or "I should've worked harder," I've learned to cut myself some breaks from time to time. I've learned to say to myself: "That was good enough" and "I'm proud of myself and my successes." I've learned to realize that there are mistakes and blunders, but there really are no failures. I've started to realize that I can learn from my mistakes without feeling bad about myself. Counteracting my negative self-talk has really made all the difference for me.



Despite my progress, though, this doesn't mean that I don't still have days or moments that I struggle with self-confidence. Sometimes, I blame myself for things over which I have no control over at work. Other times, I become disappointed that I am not in a long-term relationship and wonder what I'm doing wrong. The difference between who I am and who I used to be, however, is that I am now able to have these thoughts and get past them. I do not focus and perseverate on these negative thoughts. I work myself through them- I look at the positive side of things, I exercise, I talk to a positive friend, I write (or blog) about my feelings.



I have come to realize that I shouldn't rely on anyone for my self-confidence but me.