I am a bit of an introvert and side-musician dealing with more anxiety issues as I get older, especially in crowds or playing music, so I was looking for texts that could speak to basic strategies on gaining more self-confidence in those areas. While this book was not as procedural as I imagined it would be, it was actually very aspirational, and reminded me of my time in undergrad reading transcendentalist authors, like Emerson and Thoreau. Much of the book is written in an uplifting, inspirational manner, which I generally sort of despise, but this doesn't feel sappy. The book abounds with analogies and metaphors intended to get the reader to reflect on their own experiences with confidence, while referring to famous quotes throughout the ages. There's a bit of philosophy, a lot of straight talk that is very down to earth and serves as a good reminder to what's important in life. The book first breaks down what confidence is, or rather the concept of confidence--what we tend to think of it. It then begins to investigate how self-confidence works and provides useful examples both historical and modern. It was an interesting concept to think of achieving self-confidence as something you cannot do on your own, paradoxically. According to the author, confidence is derived by others in our life, who help to make us feel confident--people who help us increase our feelings of competence--and then we begin to (or should) move forward in the direction of trusting ourselves, our intuition, of building a natural resistance to fear of the unknown and developing a categorical mistrust of life as a whole. We must become brave and learn to navigate uncertainty, to listen to ourselves and trust our rational minds. That is the only way to true self-confidence. Personally, this is less of a self help book and more of an agnostic, inspirational text, I definitely enjoyed it. It was a fast read and really aims to get you out of your own head. Good for adults and teens.
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