Gentle Confidence

Gentle confidence is borne from being okay with the world and whatever comes your way, and it is a firm awareness of what is right and what is not. It is derived from a calm, quiet mind.

Gentle confidence is the ability to handle life; overcoming adversity is an inner strength often overlooked.

Confidence is the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone (including you) or something else. It is one of those qualities you can have too little or too much of. You have people who reside on both sides of the confidence coin.

It is one of those qualities that in and outside events can influence.

You could be flying high and on top of the world when someone rains on your parade, and your confidence plummets. Or you finally solve a problem that’s been bugging you for a while, and your confidence skyrockets.

Confidence is an ebb-and-flow thing. Gentle confidence is an inner awareness and strength thing. So, what does it have to do with anything health and fitness? I’m not sure, so let’s explore this together.

Motivation And Confidence Go Hand In Hand

Every New Year, gyms are flooded with newbies looking to make a change, thinking this year will be the year it sticks. Do you think their motivation and confidence are high? Probably. What about when the gyms are empty in February because the newbies did get instant results? The motivation and confidence for change are low.

At times, motivation and confidence are interconnected.

So, how do you keep going if either or both are low? Interesting question, and here’s the best answer from my personal experience.

Instead of giving up, keep making little progress, whether by walking, drinking enough water, eating an apple instead of candy, or doing small things that make you feel better about yourself. Doing small things first may lead to bigger things later, which doesn’t just work for your health and fitness.

When starting my blog, I sometimes only write one sentence or paragraph daily. It wasn’t much, but it was forward progress. Without much motivation or confidence, making small progress builds habits, and building habits will help increase your belief that you can do this.  

It doesn’t happen overnight, but it will happen.

Gentle Confidence And Fitness

Four years ago, my therapist encouraged me to meditate when I began therapy because I was highly strung. Meditation is an excellent method to calm the mind, reduce stress, and focus on the present, and it can help build gentle confidence. If you are interested in meditation, check out this video.

How does developing gentle confidence in oneself outside of meditation impact your health and fitness? Let’s jump from gentle confidence and switch it to inner belief. Because being able to handle adversity and whatever comes your way requires both.

Ten years ago, I suffered from debilitating back pain and enquired about getting a needle stuck in my back to take the pain away. The person who examined me did so for 15 minutes, asked nothing about my history, and thought the best course of action was a pain-killing injection. I initially agreed because it really, really hurt, but then I thought, no, I’m not doing it.

That dude knew nothing about me, and the injection may or may not have worked. It was a big needle, and I wasn’t a fan. Being a personal trainer, undergoing Physical Therapy, and reading techniques to deal with back pain, I went the gentle confidence route.

It took a while, but my back healed.

I’m not entirely sure where this (gentle) confidence came from, but I had some in the face of immense pain. So, how do you get some of this gentle confidence, even in the absence of everything else? Take a punt on yourself because sometimes you must back yourself to do something difficult.

Support is excellent, and people telling you you can do it helps, but you have to believe you can do it in the absence of motivation or confidence. That’s gentle confidence.

Wrapping Up

Motivation and confidence ebb and flow; naturally, you will sometimes have a lot or none of it. Gentle confidence is not the overt or outrageous in-your-face hyper-confidence you see from professional athletes. It’s an inner strength and belief that you can do it and will be okay with it either way. If you fail, you have discovered one method that doesn’t work.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Go ahead and crush your health and fitness goals with gentle confidence.

Email: shanemcleantraining@gmail.com