10 Ways to be a More Confident Woman

Some of us have poor self-esteem and have trouble accepting what our bodies look like. We feel a lot of pressure to have to look a certain way in our society, in our lives. People make fun of us. People think we should be ashamed of ourselves because we don’t look a certain way. People look down on us because maybe we don’t work out, or we don’t eat as healthy as someone else does, or we aren’t as thin as someone else. People, people, people. Well, I got fed up with people and decided that I am going to learn to accept that this is my body and I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I was no longer going to let others determine how I felt about myself.

I decided that I am beautiful.

Here are some ways that I found helped me in noticing my real beauty. I did not learn to accept my flaws; I learned to know they are what make me a beautiful person.

I can only hope that some of these suggestions will help someone in their struggle to find their own beauty and they might pass this information along to a friend or a stranger.

Laugh often, even when things do not go the way you had planned. When you feel like crying, when you are crying, and you feel like giving up. When you are angry, when you are sad, when you are lonely, when you are happy, when you are embarrassed and feel foolish, when you feel like being silly, when something is funny, and whenever you feel like it.

Laughing really does help with any kind of pain you may be feeling and it helps you "brush off" negative feelings. Just the action of laughing, even when you it is a fake laugh, will somehow turn into a real laugh. It could be because you are laughing at yourself for fake laughing, or it could be that you found the humor in whatever is upsetting you. Either way, laughing releases the stress and replaces it with something else. Try it next time!

When you have a good posture you feel more in line with yourself, especially when walking around a store or out on the street. Holding your shoulders back and having your head held high makes you want to put a smile on your face. It just feels better than being slumped over all the time, and it makes you look confident in yourself! Not to mention good posture helps with back pain. I know for some bustier women like myself, it is natural to hunch over because the top weight in the front sort of pulls you down, but good posture makes them a bit perkier as well.

When you are home alone take the time to play one of your favorite songs out loud and dance! Feel the rhythm, let go and do whatever move comes to your mind! Don't worry about how stupid or idiotic you might look, you’re alone! Also, learn to accept how your body moves, it is yours and only yours.

This is also a great way sneak in a little exercise to your day.

Even if your voice isn't anything close to perfect, it's freeing to just belt out any song you know as loud as you want. An uplifting song is always best, especially if your mood needs it. Although, we all know how good it feels to sing along with a song about strength. The choice is yours!

We all know that, being women, sometimes we feel like our body is not what it “should” be. Maybe you don't think it is skinny enough, curvy enough, tall enough, short enough, or fit enough. But it is your body and you should learn to accept it as it is. I think there is beauty in everything; someone just has to be willing enough to find it. YOU.

Looking in the mirror at yourself, really see your body. It is not just a body, it is YOU. Accepting yourself as a beautiful woman is most important to your self esteem, the body image you have of yourself. Having a positive body image actually does change the way others see you, too. If you love your body, and you love yourself, that radiates off of you and people can see it.

Whether you feel sexy in jeans and a T-shirt or a strapless black thing, dressing up is always fun and can make you feel more confident. It is important for a women to feel that giddy "I am sexy" feeling sometimes, and it can be an uplifting thing to get some good glances at the store that normally doesn't happen. Even though we do NOT need the attention from others in order to feel sexy, it is nice to be noticed. I am not saying lust is a good feeling, just the appreciation for the beauty you radiate.

Of course, by this statement I mean smile showing teeth! Lippy smiles get boring after a while and switching it up to something you normally don't do feels different and not like you’re doing the same tired thing over and over. Plus if you feel really happy, why not look really happy? I used to hate my smile because my teeth are spaced out and I have a gap between my two front teeth. Guess what? I love my smile and I get compliments on having a wonderful smile all the time! Remember a smile can lighten or make some ones day!

When you keep a journal, you can write whatever you want in it. You can write your feelings without the fear of someone taking it the wrong way or having your heart broken. Writing about your day, your week, or anything helps lift some weights off your shoulders you may be feeling. When you write about a problem you have, sometimes it's easier to piece it all together when you can see it right in front of your face in writing instead of bottled up in your head. It might even help curb those little spats of anger you may be having!

Listing all the good traits that you have, (according to no one other than yourself), can be a good thing to do because you can see the things you have and should be thankful for having. If you sit there and think about it long enough, you will be able to remember what you've written on those days when you feel like there is nothing good about yourself.

Eventually, when you start seeing your beauty and goodness, your list will be so full you won’t remember the “bad” things.

Listing all of the traits that aren't so good may seem like a downer, but listing all your bad traits AND ways to change them is not! No one knows you better than yourself. You know what bad traits you have and which ones you would be better off without. Making this change can help you accept yourself as a beautiful person, inside and out, and help you actually become a better person.

But remember, no one is perfect.