How to Be Confident as Told By Athletes, Artists, and Scholars
February 23, 2017
Photo Credit: Ashley Lambert (used with permission) Being confident leads to a happier life.
Academy girls are known for many things but among those things one quality comes to mind first: confidence. Some girls are born confident and others have gained their confidence through sports, art, school work, or acting. Senior, Junior, Sophomore, and Freshman girls shared what makes them confident and tips on how to gain confidence.
Athletes
Julia Petrillo ’17: “When I was younger, my coach taught me positive self talk which allows me to hype myself up before games in order to perform at my best. I know that when I am confident, not cocky, I will play well in order to help my team accomplish our goals. If I was telling someone to be more confident, I would tell them it has to start within them. The most important thing is for one to believe in themselves in order for their coaches and teammates to believe in them. Simply, if you always believe in yourself, work hard, and strive to be your best, success will follow. ”
Petrillo’s confidence in her soccer career has led her to play soccer in college at the University of Connecticut.
Lindsey Perez ’18: “Being involved in sports helps me build confidence by learning to be myself and figuring out who I want to be. Also, it builds my self-esteem because I know have supportive friends on the team. To build confidence, I would advise people to stop worrying about who’s watching and start doing what you want based on your interests.”
Greta Dieck ’19: “I would say that confidence is really a state of mind, not something that you have to unlock or acheive. Usually I feel most confident after I have played a decent basketball game or won a race, so I would reccommend pursuing your goals and working to accomplish them.”
Dieck is a part of the Academy basketball team and the track team.
Caroline Lamoureux ’20: “Sports, especially contact sports like soccer, force you to make decisions that impact the entire game. Knowing your team is behind you also really boosts your confidence in yourself and those around you. Soccer has also given me amazing opportunities both on and off the field. I think the main component to confidence is putting yourself out there. You have to believe in yourself if you want to make an impact in your situation. You can’t be afraid of failure if you ever want to succeed. Small things like smiles, compliments, and positive talk impacts people’s mindsets. Positivity is the key to confidence.”
Artists
Rachel Tata ’17: “Part of being comfortable onstage comes with preparedness. Just be prepared, know what you’re doing and do it to the best of your ability and everything else will follow! Self-confidence is always evolving for everyone, and it takes time to become more comfortable in your own skin onstage. Self-confidence can be torn down easily and it can be even harder the second time to rebuild it. Know that your mistakes don’t automatically discount your self worth: they’re simply lessons you can learn from on the way to be the best version of yourself that you can be. Mistakes are just stepping stones to growth.”
Tata stared in Academy’s production of Bye Bye Birdie last spring.
Olivia Traud ’18: “Being involved in art helps me be more confident by showing me that I am capable of great things. It helps me realize my potential and helps me set goals that I know I can accomplish. Art helps me be more confident by being myself and living through my artwork. Some tips I would give is to focus less on your mistakes and more on the best parts of your art.”
Lindsay Ayers ’19: “When you are making art, it makes you really proud of yourself when it is finally done and you see everyone’s reactions and you can’t help but smile. It reassures you that you are good at what you love. To be more confident, give 100% in everything you do. If you are unsure about something, fake it till you make it. Even if you end up being wrong or something doesn’t turn out as you thought it would, al least you were passionate about it and now have learned from your mistake.”
Ayers favorite form of art is drawing.
Kennedy Wilson ’20: “I think that being involved in theater has helped me to be more confident because when I get off of the stage, I remember that great feeling and confidence that I have on stage, and now I can use that confidence to just be me everyday. Embrace your art, your sport, your weirdness. You are beautiful, you are independent, you are you. “
Scholars
Lizzie Dolan ’17: “Honestly I don’t think being intelligent makes me more confident, it usually just makes my ego bigger, which I try to avoid at all costs. I used to rely on it for confidence, especially during middle school, and let me tell you, it is a horrible way to live. Because at the end of the day, someone else will always be smarter than you, get better grades than you, go further than you, do more than you. Instead of academics, I would suggest to someone to find the confidence they seek within accepting themselves for who they are. Because the people who are ‘confident’ are not those who fit in, they are the ones who stand out. Often times they stand out because of their weirdness or uniqueness, if you think about it. And to me there is nothing more beautiful than meeting authentic people. Confidence – in who they are – just radiates off them. So to people hoping to be more confident, I would suggest to them to analyze why they feel insecure- is it friends? Grades? Change? And then I would tell them to figure out what aspect of themselves they are denying that causes it. Because at the end of the day, we are not grade averages, we are not money-machines, we are not supposed to become perfection. We are human- and that’s what make us beautiful. It’s time to put humanity back in this world.”
Dolan’s confidence and academic stride has led her to be accepted into Yale University.
Emily Venezia ’18: “Being ‘smart’ doesn’t really matter with confidence level, but recognizing that you are an intelligent person is the first step. The second is probably understanding that even if you don’t excel at school, you can be intelligent in other areas like real life situations, and that isn’t something you can learn from a book.You can’t decide to be confident. The only advice I would have to offer is to do whatever you want to do because you can. Don’t worry about what other people think about something you like because it’s your choice, not theirs.”
Lauren Dingle ’19: “I think that its not necessarily how intelligent you are, but how you use whatever intelligence you have in a positive way. I have realized that if I take pride in every thing I do in school and give it my all, it does give me a sense of accomplishment, especially when I am able to see the benefits of my hard work. I think that it is important to help others discover their own skills and talents and encourage them to pursue those gifts and talents. Often, people are not aware of their own gifts; rather, it’s their friends and family who truly see everything they have to offer. Simple words of affirmation can go a long way.”
Lorraine Johnson ’20: “Be a good friend. Help others feel that they are not useless and unimportant. As sisters, we should encourage others and boost their confidence as well. Don’t treat someone like trash because they don’t deserve it. Treat everyone with respect and honor because at Academy, we are all sisters.”