How I Saw Myself — Changing Your Self‑Perception and Building Confidence

For years, I hid from the camera.

People often assume confidence is something you’ve either got or you haven’t.

That wasn’t my experience.

As a teenager, I had acne and hated my skin.

After travelling, I’d put on weight and didn’t feel comfortable in my own body.

After having my first baby, I became really skinny, and my acne scars were still there.

The strange thing was, no matter what I looked like, I always found something to criticise.

Too spotty. Too big. Too skinny. Too scarred.

So if a camera came out, I’d disappear.

My kids even used to joke that I was allergic to cameras. 😂

 

It Wasn’t Really About the Camera

Looking back now, I realise it wasn’t really about the camera.

It was about the way I saw myself.

I’d created a version of me that was never quite good enough.

And no matter what changed on the outside, I always found something wrong.

That’s the thing about self‑perception.

Sometimes we believe things about ourselves that simply aren’t true.

We decide we’re not confident. We’re not capable. We’re not good enough.

And then we start living according to that story.

It can affect the opportunities we take, the relationships we have, the way we speak to ourselves and how willing we are to let ourselves be seen.

What if the way you see yourself isn’t actually the truth?

This is something I’ve had to work on myself.

Changing the way we see ourselves doesn’t mean pretending everything is perfect or suddenly loving every photograph of ourselves.

It’s about questioning the stories we’ve created about who we are.

Are you really not confident? Or have you spent years telling yourself that you’re not?

Are you really incapable? Or have you decided that something isn’t for people like you?

Are you really not good enough? Or have you learned to see yourself that way?

These questions can change things.

It’s something I explore in Looking After Me, because changing the way we see ourselves can change so much about the way we show up in life.

 

I’m Still Practising This Myself

These days, I still have days when I don’t feel my best.

But for the last 18 months, I’ve deliberately been doing something that scares me.

Showing up on Instagram.

If you’d told me a few years ago that I’d be regularly filming myself, taking photographs and putting my thoughts out there for people to see, I probably would have laughed.

The fear hasn’t magically disappeared.

I’ve just stopped letting it decide how I live.

And that’s a big difference.

I used to be scared of being seen.

Now I remind myself that the message I have to share is more important than my fear.

💜

 

What if the way you see yourself isn’t actually the truth?

Have you ever spent so long worrying about how you looked, or what other people thought, that you forgot to enjoy the moment?

Maybe it’s time to question the story you’ve been telling yourself.