What is Confidence?

I often discuss the meaning of confidence with my clients. When you break the word down to its Latin roots “con” + “fidere,” it means “with” + “trust.” And, we tend to generally use the word confidence to convey assurance or firm trust in ourselves or others. I invite my clients to notice that confidence doesn’t necessarily mean to know everything, but to trust or have faith to move forward. Self-confidence could even be as simple as trusting yourself that you’ll be ok no matter what.

How is self-confidence different than self-esteem and self-worth?

Often times, people use self-confidence interchangeably with self-esteem and self-worth. It’s important to note that self-esteem and self-worth are different than self-confidence. Self-esteem is related to your accomplishments. For example, what you have listed on your resume. If you have high self-esteem, you have a favorable opinion of what you’ve done in your life. Self-worth means feeling worthy. And, this worthiness can come from just existing. It’s not based on accomplishments or even feeling a sense of trust but more from valuing yourself and feeling that you’re worthy of good things. To feel more self-worth, check out this article I wrote on “Falling In Love With Yourself + Your Life.”