I was extremely shy in high school. Sometimes when I was walking by a group of peers that I felt intimidated by, I would kind of whisper to myself, like I was really deep in thought. For some reason, this made me feel like they weren’t speaking to me because they could see I was deep in thought, not because I was uncool. Because, obviously, speaking to yourself is totally cool! haha
Now that you know about one of my awkward stages, I’ll let you know about something else that may seem awkward at first, but is really helpful for your self-esteem. I’ve written a few times about appreciating yourself. Now I’ll tell you about something that could change your life if you tend to be on the less confident side of the spectrum.
Tell yourself “I love you” in the mirror. Look yourself in the eyes for 10 seconds, and tell yourself “I love you”. You will most definitely feel awkward at first, and you may not even believe yourself. But as you do it more and more, you come to understand that you talk to yourself all of the time internally, now it’s time to be more intentional about what you say to yourself.
Start with “I love you”, then move on to other things that you’d like to tell yourself. Tell yourself things that you appreciate about yourself. Validate, or be compassionate to yourself. When you do it out loud to the person looking back at you in the mirror, you’ll start to have a better relationship with yourself.