Self-confidence can refer to a general sense of trust in your ability to control your life, or it might be more situation specific. For example, you might have high self-confidence in a particular area of expertise but feel less confident in other areas.

It is an individual’s feeling  of trust in his or her own abilities, qualities and judgments or belief that he or she can successfully face day-to-day challenges and demands. This feeling allows you to experience freedom from self-doubt and negative thoughts about yourself.

Low self-confidence may start from childhood. If a person does not receive love, affection and positive interactions in childhood, they may lack a sense of worth or inner value. Some causes of low confidence include: 

• Results at work or school, achievements or skill levels 

• The social media, body image and feelings about appearance 

• The level of support people have around them. Feeling the need to conform or fit in with peers 

• Perfectionism, pressure to achieve or excel in certain areas and comparison to others 

• Bullying or abuse, stigma or discrimination 

• Moving away from a safe or familiar area or loved ones 

• Family or relationship problems 

• Feelings of self-doubt, difficulty trusting others  

• Passive or submissive behavior, feel unloved or inadequate   

• Feeling inferior to others. Overly sensitive to criticism- Feel incompetent  

• Constantly afraid to make mistakes or letting others down 

• Negative effects on your personal and professional relationships  

• Ignore or downplay their positive qualities, use negative words when describing themselves  

• Has negative self-talk and avoid taking credit for their achievements, instead putting it down to luck  

• Blame themselves for things that go wrong rather than considering other factors that are out of their control. 

People may feel confident in certain areas, such as work or studies, but less confident in other areas, such as personal relationships. 

Low self-confidence can lead to many psychological or emotional implications. Your self-confidence may vary. There are days, you feel confident and capable; whereas on other days, you are miserable and self-doubt clouds your every action.  

Our counselling sessions help:  

• Identify and understand the source of low self-confidence- Most times the roots of low self-confidence are from events, relationships or behaviors, both past and present. 

• To find out how much original cause is still affecting you today, reflect on situations in which you feel your best and your worst. 

• To recognize and process past negative experiences and reduce negative self-talk. You get to talk about your past experiences such as being bullied and traumatic experiences like abuse. The sessions help you to look at, what you have already achieved. 

• To be self-compassionate- Very often people speak critically about themselves maybe cause of insecurity or negative judgment from peers or parents.  

• To set goals- Everyone has strengths and talents. You learn to recognize the things you are good at. 

• To notice thinking patterns- People who tend to envision extreme outcomes prevent them from setting boundaries, speaking up for themselves and protecting their needs. Counselling helps to notice these triggers and you can mindfully manage them as they arise. 

Counselling can be extremely useful in helping you:  

• Discover and recognize the origin of your confidence issues and situations that affect self-esteem. 

• Work with you on creating small, incremental goals that help you to slowly build your confidence. 

• Become aware and adjust your thoughts, beliefs and challenge your negative thinking. 

• Spot troubling conditions or situations, step back from your thoughts and accept your thoughts.  

Don’t let low self-confidence undermine your life. A self-confident person - Believes in themselves, voices their opinions, accepts criticism positively and takes on new challenges.