Well… there are 3 ladies who are my go to contacts. Both when something out of the ordinary happens (good or bad) but also for the more mundane or everyday life. They’re ALL away this week – and I’m trying to respect that by not contacting them as usual – bizarrely difficult in this modern age!

Anywho, they would usually be the ones I would be contacting to seek advice or guidance. Asking them their thoughts before I made a decision for myself. They will often agree with me, but they built up my confidence.

What I’ve started to wonder about this week is whether we need to have people around us to build our confidence; or whether we need to try and ensure there is an element within ourselves that gives us confidence for ourselves when we can’t depend on others.

I don’t think there is anything wrong about getting confidence builders from those around us; and the community around us; however it is good to have an element of confidence for ourselves to help us when we’re in new situations.

I’ve been watching a few sports competitions recently: tennis, football, athletics. What all of the competitors have in common is that when they go out to compete they have to be confident in themselves, they may have had plenty of training and coaching; there may be huge crowds cheering them on. But in the competition they are on their own/in the team remembering their training and focussing on the match/race.

I think this is similar for all of us. It’s great to be surrounded by people who allow us to have confidence in who we are and what we are doing, but that we can then go out and be who we are on our own.