My Thoughts on Self-Confidence
For my first post of 2018, I thought it would be a good time to share an interview I did for the Tao of Self Confidence podcast that was recently released. Since I'm usually the one asking the questions as the host of the Talking Taiwan podcast, it was a welcome change to be on the other end as the one being interviewed!
When Sheena Yap Chan, the founder and host of The Tao of Self Confidence podcast reached out to me about being interviewed, I enthusiastically accepted. I was happy to contribute to her show's mission which is: To help YOU find your inner journey to self confidence so that you can start living a better life.
I saw the interview as a meaningful opportunity to share my personal journey to building better self-confidence. As I've said in other interviews and here on this website, I'd describe myself as "an introvert masquerading as an extrovert." I've definitely had my share of tough life lessons that have taught me that I need to speak up for myself- because if I don't, who will? I learned the hard way- when I didn't get credit for work that I'd done- because no one knew about it. I'd worked quietly behind the scenes and worse yet, others got credit for my work! It also used to be hard for me to say no, so I'd find myself over obligating myself, or getting myself into situations that I didn't exactly agree to. I've had to learn and I'm still learning about boundaries and to not overextend myself.
In my interview for the Tao of Self Confidence, I spoke frankly about my journey to finding more self-confidence. I had something of a quarter-life crisis in my mid to late twenties, before I decided to leave New York to live in Taiwan. I talked about that in detail. I also talked about how things changed for me and I got on the path to write while I was in Taiwan. But that's not going to be revealed in this blog post. If you want to hear all of the juicy details and why my podcast episode is called "The Artist's Way With Felicia Lin," you'll have to my listen to my interview on The Tao of Self Confidence podcast, which is Episode 430: The Artist’s Way with Felicia Lin.
What I will share here is my personal definition of self-confidence, which I shared during the interview:
For me, self-confidence is knowing that no matter what, no matter how bad things get or seem, if I’m depressed, disappointed, heartbroken, feel like a failure or lost, I still know that somehow I will pull through. Things will get better, and I will figure things out. It’s the sense that I am strong enough to get through the worst, but it is also being strong enough to know when you need to ask for help or admitting that you don’t know something.
I'd like to close this blog post with this:
Let us all go confidently into this New Year 2018 and make it the best year yet! Be confident in yourself and the decisions that you have made. Be confident that you have the strength and power to do whatever it is that you want to do- whether it's to achieve a goal, deal with change, continue through adversity, make a positive impact, or simply to know when you need help.