How To Be Confident

Body confidence can change your life. Most people have something they'd like to change about themselves, whether it's a crooked tooth, hair type or colour, or your weight. For most adults, the option to change themselves is more widely available (able to pay for dental work, have their hair done at a salon and join a gym with full use of equipment) but for teenagers, and teenage girls especially, body hang-ups are not as easily addressed and this can have a big impact on your life. It can affect the way you dress, the way you hold yourself and the confidence you have to go out and live your life. Confidence is key to many things in life - getting a job, romantic relationships and maintaining/creating friendships. Below are tips on how you can become more confident, either by accepting your flaws or by doing something about them. What you see as a flaw does not have to control the way you see yourself.

Mirrors Are Your Friend

Seriously. Every time you walk past a mirror, compliment yourself. Even if you need to fix your hair first. Tell yourself one nice thing and mean it. "I have nice eyes." "I have good hair." "My butt looks good today." After a while of doing this (honestly) you'll learn to associate the mirror with receiving a compliment and it'll become second-nature to look for something good to say.

Spend Time on Yourself

Spend an extra ten minutes on your hair if it means you can tell yourself it honestly looks good next time you walk past a window or a mirror.

Appreciate Your Talents

Good at writing? Promote yourself. Offer to help out with friends’ essays. Glance over someone’s CV. Ask people to comment on your stories on Mibba. Use Comment Swap excessively. Give someone a makeover, dress someone up, create a piece of art, DIY something.

Ignore Make-Up Rules

If you want to wear "night-time" make-up for work or a shopping trip, do it. Do it with confidence. If you want to wear something different, do it well and carry it off like it comes naturally. YouTube is full of make-up tutorials for all styles - natural looks by AndreasChoice, looks for older teenagers by JLovesMac1 and some more out-there looks as well as others by sisters pixiwoo. Try to find a guru that looks like you - similar skin tone and type and similar hair colour and texture - and you'll do better.

Dress For Your Shape

Most stores will have people who can tell you your shape – pop into places like Evans, if you live in the UK, who can tell the pears from the apples. Find out what suits your shape and style yourself accordingly. Hourglass women (think Marilyn Monroe) have a big bust and wide hips with a smaller waist. Apple women have a big bust, a rounded stomach and slim hips. Pears have narrow shoulders, a small bust and wide hips. You might also be an inverted triangle (broad shoulders, slim hips) or athletic or slender.

Get a Bra Fitting

Go into a lingerie shop and ask for a fitting – they’re nearly always free. A good-fitting bra can work wonders for your self-esteem as well as your posture. A good bra lets your clothes drape well and flatters you. Stand up straight and you’ll instantly look more confident.

Smile!

The easiest advice to follow. Smile a lot and it’ll become natural. If you act like you’re comfortable in your skin, pretty soon you’ll start to believe it too.

Accept Compliments

When someone compliments you, don’t put down their opinion. Say "thank you" and move on with the conversation! Accepting compliments gives you a boost, as well as the person giving the compliment, because you’re not dismissing them. It’s nice to be nice – try and return the favour!

Curb That Green-Eyed Monster

This is the hardest advice to follow. You’re out shopping with your friends and then a girl or a group of girls walk past, looking amazing, and your confidence hits a low. See it from another perspective – as a confident girl. Identify what you like, rather than thinking "wow it’s all perfect" and you can apply it to yourself. Was the shoes? The top? The confidence she wore it with? Acknowledge that she looks good, sure, but then remember – you look good, too.