11 Confidence Tips for When You’re Feeling Down

College can be an alien experience to many students. Moving to a new place, changing your lifestyle, and making new friends can demand a lot of energy and effort. And it is only common to miss the familiarity of your life and feel down. 

Even a minor mishap in a day can make you feel low. However, the good thing is that it is indeed possible to build up your confidence over time. So, without beating around the bush, here are practical tips that you might find helpful.

1. Be Conscious of Your Thoughts

More often than not, we tend to make a situation worse in our head rather than how it is in reality. For instance, suppose that there is an assignment due and you are stressed about how your performance might be assessed by your professors and the rest of the class. 

However, there are several solutions to help you with this. You can plan your time well, and if you are short of it, you can ask to write my research paper by WritePaper writers to assist you with the completion. In other words, when your inner voice tells you something like, “Oh, you are never going to make it in time,” or “You are not good enough for college,” push it away. 

Remind yourself of what you have accomplished to get into college. You are as good as everyone around you, and you are unique in your way. 

2. Understand That Others are Going Through the Same

The truth is that every other student has their own issues, and they might be dealing with them in a different way. They might also be questioning their abilities to succeed in academics or personal life. In spite of how self-conscious you feel, others might perceive you as a confident person. 

The truth is that nobody might be bothered about how you behave in public or in private because they are thinking about their own stuff. When you realize this, you will find no reason to have low self-esteem. 

3. Take a Class You Are Good At

Another way to build your confidence is to pick something that you know you can succeed in. Although there might be distribution requirements for each semester, most likely, you will also have the option to pick one or two majors. So, choose one that you enjoy. When all your courses are challenging, it can sap your strength and undermine your confidence over time. 

4. Get Feedback From Professors

If you are feeling down and don’t know how to cope with academic pressure, you shouldn’t hesitate to consult with your professors. Whether your concern is about a part of the lecture that you didn’t understand or your ideas for a term paper, you will feel better after your teacher steers you in the right direction or tells you what steps you can take. 

Understandably, you might be lacking in confidence to talk to your professor. However, if you do it once, you will realize there is nothing to be scared of. 

5. Set Small, Achievable Goals

You might have set high expectations of yourself, and when you cannot meet the objective, it can cause you stress. Instead, try breaking down the goal into simpler steps. So, suppose your aim is to get into a club. You can try making friends, then start networking, and work your way through. 

Or, if you want to finish an assignment within the deadline, you can split the task into getting the research done, writing the first draft, editing, and such. You get the idea. This way, you will be able to reward yourself for the small accomplishments you make, which are just as important. 

6. Take Small Risks

It goes without saying that you might have to get out of your comfort zone at least once while in college. Even the prospect of this can be overwhelming for many students. However, as we discussed above, it will help you start small. 

There might be many activities that are built right in the course that can be excellent ways to build your confidence. You can look for extra credit, take a quiz, or even try to actively participate in class discussions. And when you succeed, these can do wonders to your self-esteem, especially when you are struggling with it. 

7. Try to Take Comments Constructively

Many students take remarks of others as a biting criticism. This can be a factor leading to low confidence. If you think there is no substance to others’ comments, you should learn to ignore them entirely. 

Alternatively, you can also train yourself to look at criticisms in a positive light. For instance, if it is a comment from your professor, you should try to look at it as a way to improve the next piece of assignment. If you can turn the criticisms into compliments, it can be the best confidence booster. 

8. Help Others

When you are feeling down, one of the best ways to improve your mood is to help someone else. When you work with another student who is struggling with a subject you are good at, you are proving to yourself that you are capable of handling the topic well. The positive response from the student can be further proof. 

Even if you do not tutor someone, just showing compassion to others can be a confidence booster. 

9. Take Steps to Address Your Issues

If the reason that you lack confidence is something deeper-rooted than a one-time incident, then you need to make some effort to address it. Are you having issues with your body image? You might just have to adjust your perspective. Concerned about your physical health? Make it a point to be consistent about exercise and your eating habits.

Sometimes, upgrading your wardrobe or even going out more can boost your confidence level. 

10. Avoid Toxic People

You know who we are talking about – those who manage to bring your mood down no matter what you do. Unfortunately, there might be people around you who constantly find something wrong with you, no matter your achievement. For some, these people are within the family; for others, it might be their perfectionist professor or even someone in your friend circle. 

The best approach to take is to keep them away. And when it is not possible, you will just have to adopt a different policy of not sharing things that you are happy about so they don’t burst your bubble. 

11. Redefine Your Concept of Failure

Society might have created an idea of what success should look like. However, that does not mean that what you have accomplished is not enough. Do not let others influence your perspective of taking pride in things you do. 

Of course, this does not mean that you should be okay with all missteps. If you fail a test, you should be focusing on improving at it the next time. In other words, you can and should embrace your mistakes as a part of learning and make efforts. But you should not let one failure define you. 

Takeaway

Hopefully, these tips have helped you gain some insight into how you can work on your confidence. It might be a slow process, but if you are up to it, you can indeed make a difference in the way you feel about yourself by thinking positively.