Our lives take shape according to how we interact with other people, from our family and friends to co-workers and even strangers. By building a mutual channel of kindness and support, we can make a difference and develop fulfilling relationships that not only enrich our existence but also help to sustain it. In fact, according to one 85-year Harvard study, positive relationships are the biggest key to a happy life. And other research indicates that strong social support may even help us live longer. Sometimes, though, we may feel like we’re giving someone or something — a friendship, a job, a project — a lot of our time or energy without getting the same back. In those situations, how can we start to rebalance the scales?
First and foremost, we need to find the courage to ask for what we feel is lacking — whether it’s a raise at work or more consistent communication with a loved one. After all, we each deserve to be heard and seen. It may also help to build our own confidence: Looking inward and being able to validate ourselves, rather than looking to other people for their opinions, means we’ll always have a solid foundation. With that in mind, here are 13 quotes about self-belief and speaking up to remind you that you’re always enough — whether other people see it or not.
Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.
I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped. The thing is to free one’s self: to let it find its dimensions, not be impeded.
I lost myself when I learned how to please.
What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.
You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.
Sometimes you don’t see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn’t.
Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.
Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion.
When we don’t ask for what we want and need, we discount ourselves.
You have no control over other people’s taste, so focus on staying true to your own.
Confidence is not, “They will like me.” Confidence instead is, “I’ll be fine if they don’t.”
And you will find you have fallen in love with your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And you will lose some friends and lovers, and realize you don’t miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you.
You are a very special person. There is only one like you in the whole world. There’s never been anyone exactly like you before, and there never will be again.
Featured Image Credit: Ariya J/ Shutterstock
Paola Bennet
Paola Bennet is a writer based in Brooklyn, NY. She writes a fortnightly newsletter that treasures the mundane, called Small Histories. Find her on Instagram @paolafbennet.
