How to Cultivate Self-Confidence

Cultivating self-confidence may seem difficult, especially if you do not feel comfortable in your own skin. Experiencing a mental illness can often make you feel less confident until you begin a holistic treatment program that feels right and makes sense.

If you are ready to begin treatment from whatever mental or emotional concern you are navigating right now and to begin building self-confidence in your ability to recover, individual psychotherapy can be a great place to start.

Beginning to build your self-confidence muscle may feel uncomfortable at first, as it is a new experience, but with time, patience, and self-compassion, its evolution is inevitable.

Gently Pushing Your Comfort Zone

One way to build self-confidence is through gently pushing the edges of your comfort zone and leaning into any discomfort related to your current stage of growth.

This could mean beginning to feel safe to be yourself in relationships with others (or with yourself), feeling confident in your abilities at work, or simply starting your recovery journey from mental illness and/or substance abuse.

Trusting the Process

Pushing your comfort zone repeatedly and trusting your ability to do hard things is what builds your muscle of self-confidence.

Remember, cultivating self-confidence is a process; it does not happen overnight and is a skill you develop over time. There is no timeline for developing confidence.

Anchoring Into Self-Compassion

An integral part of having a healthy relationship with yourself and others as you cultivate self-confidence is having self-compassion in moments you have learned to criticize,  judge, and shame yourself.

Self-compassion is the practice of softening the voice of your inner critic and its self-defeating beliefs in moments when this part of you is present, such as when making a mistake or thinking you did not do something “good enough.”

It may be helpful to ask yourself:

What does my inner critic usually say to me? 

Is this voice actually mine? If not, whose is it? 

How can I soften this voice? 

Your ability to build confidence in your capacity to be yourself and reach your goals in recovery and life is already within you. The confident part of you is as innate as the inner critic.

Cultivating confidence happens as you begin to do hard things repeatedly and build evidence as to why you are a confident person. At Avalon Malibu, we recognize it may feel as if you will never recover or reach the goals you have for yourself in recovery due to a lack of self-confidence. Because of this, we are here to support you as you cultivate self-confidence. Whether you’re seeking substance abuse or mental illness treatment — or both — our team is here to help you. To learn more, call us today at (844) 857-5992.