WonderGurl wrote:Start off slow and build up. You cannot go from 0 to 100 in a day. Self-confidence is a deep seated belief. It a simple thing to achieve, but it doesn't mean it's easy.
Start off with one area you want to improve. Focus on that and put the rest on a shelf. What's the most important area in your life at the moment?
I would suggest to start off with something extremely achievable, but something that will have an impact.
If you're not sure where to begin and If you're not doing it already, achieving a level of fitness can be a thing to start with. It will boost your feel-good biochemistry, will help you gain clarity, give you a sense of achievement and pride and plenty of other mental health benefits. Apart from anything else, on a very shallow yet important level - regular training sessions will make you more physically fit and attractive which in turn will make you feel better about yourself.
Fitness is always a good place to start with in my opinion.
WonderGurl, many thanks for some great advice but i'm actually a fitness fanatic and I exercise on a daily basis and I love it, in fact I go to great measures to take care of my physical appearance and alongside my studies it is one of the areas in my life that I invest in the most. I should have given more information in my original post. Without sounding boastful people are often confused when I say I feel low about myself and say 'why an earth are you insecure for' because on the surface it looks as though i'm 'doing well'. But I am always picking out flaws in myself and I feel pretty awful about myself the majority of the time :/. I often spend hours a time looking at photos of myself and seeing where I can improve myself, and I end up crying a lot.... This perfectionist behaviour carries over to my studies and I study for hours obsessively because I want to get the highest grade and the thought of getting any lower scares me. I am currently having difficulties with my partner due to various reasons and this is one of them. I feel as though there have been times of our relationship when he has really knocked my confidence (and the people i have met through him) so this worsens my behaviour and i just want to be valued very highly in his eyes because I respect his opinion a lot for some reason and I just feel like I can't meet up to standards and i see myself through this perspective a lot of the time.
Sorry for practically writing an essay I just feel like I need to get it out