What Is Confidence?

The United States would have never been established without General Washington’s phenomenal tactics and “confidence” in the Revolutionary War. According to http://www.dictionary.com/, “confidence”, “is full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing,” and in fact, it is one of the hardest virtues people can attain (Dictionary.com). In life, we are aware of the many celebrities and successful people across multiple fields. We often ask the question why and how those people can reach the success, apart from the virtues, the qualities needed as hardworking, talented and flexible communication, or luck. To earn the same success as those people, we need to have a quality that is very important, “confidence”.

Moreover, self-confidence is something that cannot be taught. It is up to the individual to decide how much belief that they possess inside of themselves. Further, the more people believe in success and in the achievements that they have accomplished in the past, the more they can firmly embrace new challenges in the future. In contrast, “confidence” is opposite to some of people’s negative personalities such as cowardness, timidity, and it can lead them to be afraid to fail, or do not dare to pursue their dreams. Throughout life, “confidence” can be expressed from the smallest action as a student presenting or contributing ideas to the class lessons, or a scientist announcing his inventions, or even a writer publishing his books. The best way to gain self-confidence is to look deep inside of ourselves and believe that we have the ability to overcome all obstacles and challenges we are faced with on a daily bases because our self-esteem is one of the few things that we have control over. Thus, practicing to be more confident is a crucial task people should do every

However, not everyone has the “confidence” on their own. In life, we still see those people who are shy, lack of courage in themselves, or prefer to rely on others, on their parents, and leading to a lack of skills and knowledge. Typically, a number of young people, despite stepping to adulthood, is still not engaging in the world. As a result, they have to live the dependent lives, and they are still clinging to their parents. Some people who lack of “confidence” do not dare to accept the challenges in their jobs to seek for opportunities. Recently, I have struggled with confidence in one of the most important aspects of my life: singing. With schoolwork, I feel completely confident in my work, but singing is a different story. Lately, I have been displeased and uncomfortable with my performances, instead of the ease that I used to practice in my rehearsals. After every mistake, I would get down on myself. It has been hard for me to find out how to gain and reach confidence. Through several talks from my vocal coaches, I finally believe that I am a good performer, and I cannot let pressure get to me. Moreover, I have learned that if one cannot believe in being able to do something, one will not do it. I am slowly building my confidence by believing in myself and trusting in my abilities. At the same time, we need to understand that not only “confidence” is not enough