It doesn't matter if you are a boy or a girl, being a teen is rough. Many times people talk about girls and their fragile self-confidence, but the reality is that boys can have confidence issues too. If you are a teen who is struggling with self-confidence, (or if you are a parent searching for help with their teens self confidence), here are a few tips to help you out.
Realize Your Talents
You might not see it, but you have a lot of talent in you. It can be hard to see that talent when you are in a school of hundreds of peoples and you don't get any special recognition – but you do have talent, it is there.
Find what it is that you love to do and embrace it. Do it for fun, use it as your creative outlet, and most of all don't let anyone devalue your creative abilities! Remember, many times the teens who were made fun of for their special talents grow up to be the ones that change the world. Do some research, you will be surprised to find some of the world's most talented people had others tell them that they should give up on their dreams long before they became a success.
Work on Your Abilities, Build Them Up
Maybe you have just one or two things that you feel really passionate about right now, or maybe you have many things that you like to do. Either way, that is okay. Have fun doing all of the things that you like to do.
As you keep getting better at them, your self-esteem will keep rising.
Be Like a Duck
There is a saying that goes 'be like a duck, a duck let's everything roll off of it's back'. This is something that you should be doing too. Once you know that you are good at things and you have a large amount of value, it can be easy to understand that your worth comes from inside of yourself, not from others.
Don't Compare Yourself To Others
It is so easy to look at those who share your interests and gauge how good you are by how good they are. It is very easy to be like, 'well, I can do this but my friends can't, so obviously I am pretty good'. It is also easy to think, 'well, I can't do this but all of my friends can, I am not very good at this'.
Remember, you are you and that is all that matters. Let's say that you can't do something that all of your friends can do, you might want to give up but you shouldn't. If you love what you are doing, if you have fun doing it, then you should be able to do it without worrying about what everyone else is doing.
As you keep doing what you love, you will keep getting better – don't be surprised if you are quickly able to do more than what your friends with the same hobby can do.
Remember, you have a lot of value. It might be hard to realize that you are important when you are a teenager because you are trying to figure out who you are. When you learn to listen to yourself and give yourself value, you will find that it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about you.