Personal Narrative : Personal Essay

     Sure, some of us have this great confidence within ourselves about looking great, but that does not hold true for everyone. I understand the pain or disgust, or even disappointment one feels when they look in the mirror and say, “I wish I could change this or that about myself”. Although this piece is written about the author’s life, it holds meaning and connects with for many people; one only has to dig deep enough to find one. For me, it was to realize what is important in life can change, adapt and that we must explore our inner selves and find our own path in life.

I still remember my young mind being undoubtedly misled by narcissistic societal standards that left me feeling hatred for my physical appearance. It was not until my second year of high school when I realized that self-love should not be shallow, but rather focused on one’s own well-being and happiness. It was through this discovery which I felt a passionate urge to aid others who have, like me, combated years of insecurities conceived by offering

I believe in the beauty of confidence. Confidence is truly a defining factor in self-recognized beauty. I believe that confidence is one of the most important traits that an individual can possess. To perceive confidence is not solely to feel pride in oneself, but to recognize the strength that lies in the presence of a single individual. To feel the power of emotions that can exist, the wonder of thoughts that are able to ring inside a free mind too. To feel strength in a crowded room is to be mighty. To sit down beside champions of the same sport and to not feel an urge to compare oneself to others in any manner but for inspiration. Letting only my eyes wander to the appearance and the interviews of my competition, but for the sole purpose of improving myself. To settle for less than I already am because of someone else is a crime I have the power to commit, as well to prevent. People are so much fiercer and more powerful than their minds will ever lead them to believe. To feel dignity blossom inside a mind and soul is to allow a heart the ease of knowing that it is at rest inside a chest that it

Not having a strong sense of confidence can cause problems such as being easily influenced, having trouble making the right decisions, and getting involved in unhealthy relationships. Developing a strong sense of identity and self esteem is important because we must first learn how to understand and love ourselves before we can allow anyone else to. I am confident because I know who I am and what I want in live. I am driven and goal oriented and I will stop at literally nothing to get what I want. Being confident in myself has allowed me to express myself in a variety of ways without worrying whether or not people are going to judge me. I’m a big believer in “look good, feel good, do good” so I always try to look my best even if I’m feeling not-so-confident on that particular

I saw many others of my peers who did not fit into what society viewed as being beautiful. Many of them were doing the same things I did to get noticed. They would change their outward appearance in hopes of attracting romantic male attention. Some got the attention and other didn’t get the type of attention they wanted. I came to a point only recently in my life. where I didn’t care what people thought about how I looked and decided to live the life I wanted and needed to be a better women and care for my two

There is nothing wrong with being confident, but what if you are overly confident? Everyone has something that they are good at and it is alright if people are better at something than you are. It is never good to think of yourself as better than anyone else or that you are of higher power than anyone else. However, it is also not good to bring people down if they are not as good at something as you are, at least they are trying. If you are not the best at something that should not discourage you or make you want to give up on it, it should make you want to work harder to get even better. In the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas Tim Burton uses the characters Jack Skellington, Oogie Boogie and Dr. Finkelstein to show that is not good to be egotistic for the reason that it could lead to failure in any type of situation.

feelings and thoughts fueled my low confidence. People say if you fake it enough, it eventually becomes like second skin. I decided to fake confidence. I continued my bubbly facade. I looked in the mirror and repeated to myself that I’m allowed to love myself.

Growing up I was always been self-conscious of myself when it came to appearance, grades, and style, I was always concerned with fitting in. Growing up at a school in the Dallas community, I was constantly worried about if my clothes and hair fit in with everyone else, if my body was skinny enough, and to make sure my grades are kept at the standard my parents hold for me. This was an ongoing struggle going through middle school and even high school. For some reason I was more worried about what people thought of me rather than just being myself. Until I ended up rereading the book One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish in the middle of my junior year. After rereading this book, I learned to apply it to my

Self-Reflection is when someone looks at their reflection in the mirror and describe how they see themselves daily. For the past year, my self-observation has become a significant part of my image of myself, and I considered it necessary. It is important for me to be able to look at myself each morning to critique the flaws I have and wish away what I look like as a person. Self-confidence is something lacked in my world, and this experiment was extremely challenging at first. On average, I think about my appearance sixty to seventy percent of the day and wonder if how I look is acceptable for the public eye. It is not that I strive to look the best, it is that I am afraid someone may look at me and not see someone

But what is wrong with being confident. Confidence is the belief of one's abilities or powers to do something. These things can vary from getting up and giving a speech to climbing to the highest mountain top. One of the biggest advantages of being confident is just being confident. The only person you have to prove anything to is you. You can be yourself around everyone, and you don't care what people think as long as you’re happy.The only person you have to be better than is the person that you were yesterday. In the words of Joss Whedon, “ Be yourself, unless you suck.” Now some people might think, “ Wow! That was really derogatory and degrading.” What Joss meant was the arrogant, hypocritical, and the ignorant people shouldn’t be themselves, those are the people that suck. Those are the people that need to change. The positive, confident and ambitious people are the people that should never change. Those are the people that should be themselves.Being confident has many other positive effects on people, such as you will think like a winner basically turning yourself into the little engine that could.I think I can.(3x) Any mountain you can climb and any ocean you can swim. Your attitude will also be a lot better and you will attract the right people because who doesn't love a positive outgoing person that doesn't let anything stand in the way of him or her. You won't look for excuses not to do something you should look for excuses or reasons to do something. Next time you talk yourself out of doing something like going to a party or doing something challenging that will take all of your effort, say “What the Hell!” and go do it anyway, because remember being confident is just about making yourself happy. If you don’t finish the challenge you got yourself into as long as you gave it your all you can be happy with

Instead, I worried about what people thought of me. I developed a strange habit; I started pulling out my hair. I told my therapist about this, and she told me that I have trichotillomania. Trichotillomania is a disorder where someone pulls out their hair when they get anxious. I pulled when I was stressed, anxious, sad, and I used it to cope. Bald spots formed quickly, and I tried as hard as I could to stop. I just could not. I always had something to worry about, whether it be a test, or if a guy liked me or not. I was so focused on how I appeared to others, and if I was beautiful or not. One day in high school while I was in the school bathroom I noticed something; every girl was looking in the mirror and complaining about what they saw .Although nothing was wrong in the first place. We were all so focused on what we looked like instead of caring about our minds. We did not care how we treated one another, but how we appeared. I realized that is not what matters. Ever since we were two years old we were taught to be beautiful, and to be princesses, but not much else. Many of my mental disorders stemmed from trying to be what society wanted me to be, and I realized I was not alone. All the girls in this bathroom looking into dirty bathroom mirrors had experienced the same things I had. They had been hurt by boys, and they had all felt ugly before. We were all girls; who had all been told the same things. That we were not beautiful. That we should just be quiet. Every one of us were unhappy in some way; every one of us thought we weren’t good enough. After looking at our flaws for a few seconds, we all go back to the halls that convinced us we had flaws in the first

When I was in my younger teens, all I could think about was what did people think of me and how can I not attract attention to myself. The goal in every day life was to not embarrass myself, it was a rather unfulfilling lifestyle and goal. Every day I would do my hair, trying to perfect it so I wouldn’t get made fun of. Every day I would worry to no end about embarrassment, I would be so self conscious about the smallest things. I remember one day I was made fun of for the way I did jumping jacks and I got so self conscious. Think about that, I got self conscious over jumping jacks. People don’t realize how tough the early teens are, for both genders. As a boy back then, I was experiencing lots of puberty and a lot of change in my body, this

Being confident, is one the most respectable character trait someone can have. Because having confidence makes people able to fully accept themselves. Merriam- Webster’s definition of confidence can mean one of two things depending on how it’s used. The first definition of confidence is a feeling or consciousness of one’s powers or of reliance on one’s circumstances. Having confidence in someone is a big deal because it means putting trust in someone to carry through with something. Putting too much confidence in someone because is that chance of getting let down. Now the second definition from Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something. Someone who has confidence believes in

Why should we worry about what others think of us? Why can’t we just look the way we want to look? In today’s society we are always trying to look like those models on the front of magazines, when in reality it’s nearly impossible because the photos are most likely photoshopped. It seems like everyone is pressured into looking one specific way, and if they don’t look the way others want them to, they don’t “fit in”. People, especially, girls/ women, are spending tons of money just to look a certain way just so they will “fit in”. I, Melissa Erhart, declare myself free from society’s expectations for the way people’s bodies should look because people should not be pressured to look the way others want them to.

The critical issue with becoming too concerned about one’s self-presentation is that your mind will never be able to rest. It is unhealthy to be consistently worried about you self-presentation in front of others. According to Swinson (2011), “One study found that one in four people is depressed about their body, another found that almost a third of women say they would sacrifice a year of life to achieve the ideal body weight and shape, and almost half of girls in a recent survey think the pressure to look good is the worst part of being female.” This evidence depicts the idea that people pay a great amount of attention to how they look, which is normal in our society. What is not normal is to be too worried about how one presents themselves