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The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

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The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

Confidence 101

Confidence; everyone deals with confidence issues whether they are 12 years old or 22 years old. No matter who you are or what you’ve been through, you will be faced with self-esteem issues at some point in your life. It’s human nature to feel uncertain about our actions and fear the thought of rejection. But is confidence strictly mental or is there something else? And how important is confidence in daily life?

Confidence or self- esteem, like all other human emotions, can be traced back to the human mind, the inner core of our feelings. According to American psychologist Abraham Maslow, humans strive for two different types of esteem, respect from others and self-respect. Humans want to be accepted and feel that they belong and are not the outsiders.

But how can this relate to you? According to Dosomehting.org, “Seven in ten girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members”, and “about 45% of Western men are unhappy with their bodies”. Hundreds of students daily deal with a lack of confidence to be themselves.

High school in general can be one of the toughest times of a young adults life. You are meeting new people, making new friends, losing old friends. Your life is in constant turmoil and it can be easy to lose yourself in all the changes. Added on top of that is the always present problem of bullying. There are always going to be people in the world who want to bring you down and who will try to make you feel small and insecure. But having confidence is having the power to not let yourself believe their lies and to know that only you can change the way you feel.

“Confidence is important to have”, says senior Susan Mullen, “You need to have confidence in yourself when you are around other people who have different priorities. The best thing to do if you lack confidence is to be friends with someone who does so you can see how they act”.

A sophomore, who wanted to remain anonymous, said, “Yes, I think confidence is important for how you feel about yourself. You are not going to accomplish anything if you don’t believe in yourself. But it is not something you can get, it is something you have to work on.”

“People should stop worrying about what other people think about them.” Says senior John Wiech.

Confidence and self-esteem can sometimes be a delicate subject because it is personal to the person. But if you are having problems just remember that you are not alone and that everyone will go through some form of confidence issue within their lifetime. Don’t forget to be yourself and you will find a way to overcome it.