Monday, 17 June 2013

The Importance of Confidence


Most of the advice handed out about dating and flirting revolves around confidence.  We all know that confidence is key, but why?  Confidence is what allows you to approach someone successfully.  If you have high self-confidence, talking even to total strangers won’t faze you.  This is because you know you’re awesome and have the ability to make someone’s day better.  Too often people talk themselves out of meeting someone because they tell themselves that person is busy, is with friends, they’d never waste time with someone like them, they might shoot them down, etc.  This is silly.  As long as you aren’t a creep about it, most people are going to be flattered if you express interest in an appropriate way.  The way to do this successfully isn’t to be good looking (though this always helps), but to be confident and believe that you’re complimenting someone, not bothering them.

Confidence improves your interactions in every aspect of flirting and dating.  Much of our fear about approaching someone arises from a sense that we may be rejected.  Confidence shouldn’t be built on a foundation of feedback from others.  Appreciate the feedback you receive, but don’t rely on it.  It might not always be there to motivate you and to sustain your confidence.  Plus, if you let others build you up, you’re just as likely to let them tear you down.  Confidence should be based on your values and successes you’ve built, not material or transitory things.  When you truly love yourself it doesn’t matter whether or not someone wants to talk to you or to date you.

Confidence also makes you seem more attractive overall.  A good-looking person is less attractive without it and an average person is more attractive with it.  Looks always come into play.  We should never date people we aren’t attracted to but when someone is confident enough to be themselves regardless of what others think, it’s an appealing quality.  Some people claim to be put off by confidence, particular in women.  These people are either confusing confidence with arrogance, are lying, or only want to date someone they can easily manipulate.  If someone gets angry at you for making the first move, let them go.  If someone doesn’t like the confident person you are, why would you want to waste your time getting to know them anyway?

Having confidence means that you put less pressure on others. Confident people don’t need a partner, they want one.  Most people want to be wanted by someone whose life is complete as it is rather than to be needed by someone.  A confident person is happy to let friendships and relationships develop at their own pace rather than pressuring people to move forward on their timeline.  People want to feel special and need isn’t going to do that.   They don’t want to feel like you’re desperate for sex or for a relationship. They want to feel like you had options and chose them.  A confident person is more likely to be seeing multiple people in the early stages as well, lessening the pressure to get serious on everyone involved.
Most people prefer to spend time with those that are confident as the constant reassurance that unconfident people need is exhausting and draining.  People who have low confidence have a hard time accepting compliments, choosing instead to minimize whatever caused you to compliment them in the first place, and forcing you to argue with them over their own merits.  They require constant support to keep from lapsing into self-hatred.  The little confidence they do have is based on the assurance they receive from others.  They are more likely to be unfaithful or engage in unsafe sexual practices because they need to maintain peoples’ sexual interest to shore up their self-worth.  They may be more flirtatious than others to make themselves feel better.  It’s never an equal partnership and you can’t blame anyone for not wanting to take responsibility for anyone else’s happiness.  If your confidence is low, work on it before trying to enter a relationship.

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