(In) Confidence

   Recently a good friend asked me to assist her in a new self growth project that she will begin going through shortly. In short, she asked me if I could remind her to be or do something, or if I had something I wanted to say to her, every day, what would it be? I thought for a few moments and came up with "You are beautiful." Instantly I decided how cliché that, overused, and honestly boring that statement was. I didn't want to scrap that though - since it is true, but decided to add onto it instead.
   Confidence.
   That single word was the piece of wisdom I would share with her in this time of change she was embarking on. With confidence you can be more, do more, and be seen as more by others. Something I have been working on the past couple of years in my own life, especially in this recent transitional period I've been going through.
   I used to be an extremely shy, reserved, and quiet kid in high school. I struggled to make friends most of the time (which was also due to the fact that people thought I was intimidating for some unknown reason...), so much so that I only keep in touch with a single person from then now. But if you know me now, I have no problem going out of my comfort zone to talk with others - especially if it could be an opportunity to take advantage of (socially and professionally).
   Many accomplishments I've made in recent times can be traced back and attributed to confidence. As I said earlier, you will do more and be more if you have confidence in yourself. For instance, a year ago I would never have left my full-time salary-and-benefits job to go back to school and not only sacrifice all income, but also increase my expenses. Sounds crazy right? But in my own personal journey I acquired the confidence to leave that seemingly dead-end job in an industry that I never even wanted to be involved, to pursue an education in a field that I truly want to make a career out of. You can do so much more in life if you believe in yourself. There's no way I could have gotten where I am now, or where I will be going, if I hadn't gained confidence in myself along the way.