Ok, so I was nominated by fellow Helpienaut @maverickinvictus to do this wonderful 7 days of positivity challenge.

It's basically finding at least one thing to be grateful about each day and sharing it with you!
That's friggin' awesome and right up my alley!

TODAY! Monday 18th of June!

What am I thankful for?

MY COURAGE TO BE CONFIDENT

---

confidence
ˈkɒnfɪd(ə)ns/
noun: confidence
• a feeling of self-assurance arising from an appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities.
"she's brimming with confidence"
synonyms: self-assurance, self-confidence, self-reliance, belief in oneself, faith in oneself, positiveness, assertiveness, self-possession, nerve, poise, aplomb, presence of mind, phlegm, level-headedness, cool-headedness, firmness, courage, boldness, mettle, fortitude
antonyms: doubt, uncertainty

This probably won't be a very popular topic to speak about.
Self-Confidence is frowned upon.
Let's see why...

---

Confidence is a creative force

I would never have achieved the numerous things I’ve achieved without confidence.

Without confidence, I would never have attained a black belt in karate.

Or delivered at home, the births of my two daughters, including unraveling the umbilical cord wrapped twice right around my youngest daughter’s neck and, if all goes to plan, I'll likely be delivering my soon-to-be-born third daughter..

To achieve anything of importance in our lives we need confidence.

False Humility

Too many people perceive behavioural traits of self-effacing or self-flagellating or downplaying their abilities as being humble.
Yet usually these behaviours are false and coming from more of a sycophantic place.

Conversely, too many people mistake confidence for arrogance, conceitedness, or superciliousness, but someone who is sure of who they are and operate from what the Zen Buddhists, Shintoists and Japanese martial arts traditions call the Kaiki Tanden (their center) which is a trait to be admired.

^source
It’s brave to be confident in a culture that seems to only value the shy, softly-spoken underdog.

Look, if someone is a braggart or thinks they’re better than any other human being that we share this tiny planet with, then it’s highly likely they are lacking confidence.
However, knowing and expressing that you’re good at something that you’ve worked hard at for a long time is not someone who lacks humility.
All that person lacks is status quo imposed bullshit. As Aussies say, “they won’t blow smoke up your arse.”

And I'm not saying that genuine humbleness isn't a good thing either. Everything in balance.

---

Small Poppy Thinking

I’m not into false humbleness.
There’s far too much of it around, especially in the culture I grew up in in Australia.

It’s a reaction to what we call it the “Tall Poppy Syndrome.” Where you cut others down if they stick out from the crowd, just like poppy flowers.

It’s the norm here, but the collective psychological ramification of that collective behaviour quickly became what I coined as “Small Poppy Thinking.” Where you cut yourself down before anyone else gets the chance to.
You deflect compliments. Without realising that when you deflect or downlplay a compliment you are robbing the complimenter of the gift of feeling good about giving to another and you are inadvertently placing judgement upon that person’s ability to perceive greatness.
You put yourself down to others, even when you’ve just done something really great.
It’s ego bullshit, just in reverse.
It’s fake.

---

There’s a lot of things I am not good at.
There’s a lot of things we’re all not good at, right?
Why focus on what you’re not good at?
Why pretend you’re not good at something that you’re actually good at?

Cultural Exchange

I’ve been to the USA a number of times.
One thing I loved about American culture, at least the part that I’ve always experienced, is this “You can, I can, We can,” type cultural attitude.
The “Reach for the stars,” “You can achieve anything,” type ethos.
Where you know what you’re good at because you’ve worked friggin’ hard to get good at it.
You’d never downplay your own abilities (but neither should you boast about them and elevate yourself as being better than others)
I love that about American culture.
It’s very positive.
It’s not like that here in Australia.
We could really learn to let go of our self-effacing culture here to heal an old multi-generational psychological wound and adopt the American “Go get em” ethos.
It’s slowly catching on here.

---

That being said, Australians are generally very down-to-Earth people.
Perhaps it is because this ancient continent has the oldest known human culture in the world that have been caretaking this land for over 65,000 years and it's rubbed off on us down here.

---

Personally, I don’t ever boast or make out I’m better than anyone else (because I know there are tonnes of people better than me at lots of things, even things that I am good at).

I hope people get inspired by my confidence and energy, but I certainly hope I don’t ever come across as supercilious.

Because I don't think that I am better than anybody else.
I never have.
In fact, like you, I am also plagued by a pesky negative inner critic.

But if you judge me as being arrogant simply because I am confident, it says a lot more about you, your judgments and your conditionings that prevent you from being free.
I want you to be free.
I want to be free.

My confidence is my freedom.

Am I always confident in every situation I face?
No. Of course not.

But I will always follow the ”Speak even if your voice shakes” ethos made famous sadly by Dolly Everet.

Be confident.

Stand in your power with grace.

Don’t dim your light for anyone.

Shine as bright as you can.

The best part of standing in your confidence is having permission to make fun of yourself.

Hahahahaha!!

---

And I’ll Rise by Ben harper (adapted from the Maya Angelou poem)
You may write me down in history
With your bitter twisted lies
You may trod me down in the very dirt
And still like the dust I'll rise
Does my happiness upset you
Why are you best with gloom
Cause I laugh like I've got an oil well
Pumpin' in my living room
So you may shoot me with your words
You may cut me with your eyes
And I'll rise
I'll rise
I'll rise
Out of the shacks of history's shame
Up from a past rooted in pain
I'll rise
I'll rise
I'll rise
Now did you want to see me broken
Bowed head and lowered eyes
Shoulders fallen down like tear drops
Weakened by my soulful cries

Does my confidence upset you
Don't you take it awful hard,
Cause I walk like I've got a diamond mine
Breakin up in my front yard,
So you may shoot me with your words
You may cut me with your eyes
And I'll rise
I'll rise

---

What are you confident about in your life? Speak up. Speak loud!

---

Nomination time!!!

For my nominations, I choose @mfxae86, @socent, and @chiefmappster!

You've all been tagged! You're it!

^source

---

And now, here you’ll find the rules for being part of this challenge!
• Write a post about something you have to be positive about today - this could be anything from being thankful for your current situation, someone being nice to you, being thankful for your friends and family, or even being thankful for the opportunity you have been given here on Steemit - just keep it positive :)
• Do this for 7 days in a row if you get nominated
• Mention three people who you'd like to see do this challenge.
• Tag it with #positivitychallenge and include these rules at the bottom of your post
• Include a picture of something positive (related to your story if possible).

---

Please make sure you vote for @pfunk, @ausbitbank, @followbtcnews, @aggroed, @curie as witnesses here: https://steemit.com/~witnesses. These beautiful beings do lotsa good.

---

Thanks so much for commenting below
(because I'm hoping you're about to ).
If you felt the vibe of this article, or it's helped you shift perspective,
please do click upvote, click resteem, click follow and comment.
Let's connect, be friends!
I'd really love to hear from you.

I try my best to check out the blogs of my genuine upvoters as well as those of you who do genuine comments and especially those who follow me…

Also, I'm a proud helpinaut!
Join the PALnet Discord group and be active there. Our scouts are in there all the time seeking new Helpienauts for our discord group!.
You could be one of them! https://discord.gg/fzxbrpD
Helping is the #1 goal!

---