Spark Confidence

Confidence – at one time or another in our lives, we all struggle with it. Perhaps you’ve never quite had it. And that’s O.K. Confidence is complicated, it depends on SO many things, and we’re here to share with you 4 ways we learned to spark confidence through self-love, kindness, and inspiration.

See the naked truth

Blogger, Tanesha Awasthi, of Girl With Curves is on a mission to inspire women to feel comfortable enough in their skin to have the courage to wear what they love (hive-five to that!). Tanesha has excellent advice for anyone lacking in body confidence. Instead of avoiding our reflection, she encourages us to “spend more time in the mirror.” Her top tip for boosting-confidence is to strip off to do our hair and makeup in the nude, “while at first, this may be uncomfortable, after forcing your naked image to be in your face more often, you’ll soon get used to seeing your reflection without looking away or picking it apart.”

Be a judgment-free zone

In one of our recent blogs, we talked about how to be confident in friendship and love. We laid down a few rules to live by, one of which was “don’t be jelly” because comparison is a sure-fire way to kill your confidence! Judgment, of ourselves and others, is also incredibly damaging to our sense of self-worth. When we regularly judge others, we allow criticism to creep in, and this kind of negative self-talk undermines our confidence and prevents us from being happy as we are. By putting an end to the judgment of others, we start to see the good things and re-train our brains to be kinder to ourselves in the process.

Marie Kondo your wardrobe

Guess what? You can fall in love with your wardrobe! With her little turquoise book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, Marie Kondo has helped millions of women to reclaim their closets. Kondo teaches us to tidy up our messy clothes, and organize them into categories to get a better idea of what we own. In our ‘keep’ pile should only be items that ‘spark joy’, ensuring we always feel our best. Having a clear-out can be a great way to find holes in your wardrobe. You may have an awful shoe collection, not enough of the right underwear, or need a jewelry upgrade. Once you know what you need, you can shop more purposefully, fall in love with your style again and get dressed stress-free (who’s in?!).

Find worthy role models

Last year, we had our first-ever 100% inclusive body-positive campaign, including a mix of transgender, mixed-race, and plus-sized models. Alongside a series of photographic art, Feel Like the Masterpiece You Are, featured a video ad starring a surprising heroine: Venus De Milo! And, quickly became a massive hit on social media. The influential models who made up our campaign were total goddesses! Not least because of their beauty, but more importantly, their empowering stories have inspired thousands of women to embrace their bodies and feel confident being who they are. You can read what they thought about the campaign here. Thankfully, more women like these beauties are emerging nowadays to offer us, diverse role models, who can show us how to live with confidence.