Confidence in ourselves can make us feel more comfortable in our own skin. But how do we build confidence and stop comparing ourselves to others? It can be hard to step away from social media comparisons and truly feel happy in our bodies. This article will share six tips for improving your self-image, happiness, and confidence.

Cultivate a Sense of Identity

You might not often spend much time thinking about who you are. But sitting down and defining your values, code of ethics, and what motivates you can help you develop a sense of self. Feeling confident in your identity can help steer you toward things that make you happy and give you a solid sense of self-worth. 

Make Time for Yourself Outside of Work

Are you someone who defines yourself by what you do? Having an identity that revolves around your day job can often damage your confidence. Make time for yourself outside of work to define what you enjoy doing. Interact with friends, start a hobby, and engage with the world.

If you can, consider whether changing your work schedule might help you. Consider the schedule of full time versus part time employees. Part-time employees may get paid less but have more time to pursue different ways of making money that make them happy. You could even look at starting a side hustle that involves taking advantage of a hobby you enjoy with the extra time you have. 

Push Past Your Comfort Zone

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘a comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there’? Overcoming challenges can help you develop your sense of achievement and really boost your self-esteem. Consider trying something that takes you out of your comfort zone.

Try a free personality test like 16 Personalities to help you better understand yourself and your comfort zone. You might find that public speaking classes or language learning can help you push the boundaries of who you feel comfortable talking to. Or, perhaps, joining a cookery class or learning a practical skill can help you. Pushing past your comfort zone is about redefining some of the limitations you place on yourself and boosting your self-confidence. 

Prioritize Your Own Self-Care

Feeling run-down, stressed, or like you have no time can affect your self-esteem. Self-care can help you relax and slow down. Self-care can fit in with whatever time you have. It might be five minutes using your favorite moisturizer before you go to bed or a few hours sitting down to read that thriller. It could be going for a run before work or just some self-praise to yourself for doing a great job with that presentation yesterday. Self-care is prioritizing time for yourself to do something you enjoy. Making time can remind us that we are worthy of care and appreciation. 

Disconnect from Social Media

All of us are guilty of scrolling through social media and comparing the happy person on the page to our current life. Disconnecting from social media can help you regain perspective and reconnect with the present moment. Certain apps, like Forest, reward you for time away from your phone. When you spend time away from your phone, the app grows a virtual tree, allowing you to grow a virtual forest over time as a reward for focused time away from your phone. 

Make Healthy Choices

Making healthy choices can boost our brain power, help us sleep better, and genuinely make us feel better about ourselves. Consider purchasing fruits and vegetables you enjoy and developing a physical skill. Physical activity and balanced eating can make our bodies healthier and give us confidence. It’s important to note here that making healthy choices is not about cutting out food groups but giving your body the nutrition it needs to function properly.

Starting to take care of your body through nutrition and exercise can also help you change how you think about yourself. You may tell yourself that you aren’t a healthy person, or that you don’t know how to exercise. Changing this by developing new skills can help you transform how you view yourself and your capabilities.

Final Thoughts

Feeling confident in yourself is important. Whether you take time to think about your values, prioritize self-care, or disconnect from social media, there are many tiny steps you can take on your journey to improved self-esteem. You deserve to feel happy in yourself, and by making healthy choices, taking yourself out of your comfort zone, and making time outside of work, you might just find that the way you think about yourself changes.