Have you guys seen Liza Soberano’s video on how she made confidence happen for herself? If you haven’t you can check it out here.
Anyway, I just wanted to quickly share my own story because like Liza, I’ve had (and still sometimes have) my fair share of insecurities.
To be honest, I get insecure about tons of things—my skin, my body, my awkwardness, and the list goes on.
Before I became a beauty blogger, and I know most of you know this already, I was an athlete and was exposed to the sun a lot so aside from having oily and sensitive skin, I usually had pimple breakouts from all the sweat and dirt plus my skin tone was never even! That’s primarily where my skin insecurities came from, because I’m not blessed with good skin unlike my sister and mom. So to manage this, I really invest in good products and doing a holistic approach—I eat and drink stuff that’s good for my skin, I religiously apply my skincare products everyday, and I visit a skincare center once a month to get a diamond peel. When I started doing this, my skin improved so much and it gave me a lot of confidence that I didn’t have back in high school and college. I also like to use makeup that works well on my skin like Maybelline’s Clear Smooth All-In-One Powder, which keeps me shine-free all day and always gives me a fresh-looking finish.
A lot of you also know this but I think my biggest insecurity back then (and sometimes until now) is my body. I used to be really skinny as a kid but playing softball for years bulked me up a little, which was fine. It was after 2nd year high school when I visited the States for the second time and stayed there a month that I gained literally 25 pounds. I ate Krispy Kreme and chocolate pudding non-stop, and when I got back, I had a hard time losing all the weight. I just kept eating and eating whatever I wanted, and it went on until I was about 1st or 2nd year college. I used to always have this mindset that I would burn whatever I ate at training or games anyway, but the truth was, I constantly ate way more than I should have—so when I finally disciplined myself, I started eating less carbs and sugar and focused on eating healthier. Jogging and Ultimate Frisbee helped me shed all the weight as well, and from 125 lbs. I now weight about 105 lbs.
There was a time that I went a little overboard because I wanted to be as skinny as possible, so I reached 99 lbs. But then I became so sickly, got asthma attacks more frequently, and I even had anemia—so I learned from this, and told myself to just focus on eating right and just making myself as healthy as possible. Nowadays, I eat anything I want but in moderation. I feel healthier and stronger, I rarely get sick anymore, and most importantly, I’m happy!
Being awkward and introverted has always been my personality, and as much as I want to be a cool bad-ass like Sasha Banks, I know I’ll never be able to pull it off. But I guess with maturity also comes a level of acceptance, and I can honestly say that I’ve completely embraced my quirks, my weirdness, and my being a nerd. I’m still extremely awkward, and still get so shy around people—but I’m always able to pull through by pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. It helps to have a strong and solid support group who love you, accept you, and believe in you completely, because that gives you all the strength and confidence, too! One thing that’s also happened as I got older was closing my circle off to just a few really good friends, and whom I secretly like to call my Breakfast Club. And when you know who your true friends are, life is a lot less chaotic.
So that’s my quick story on how I continue to overcome my insecurities. It takes a lot of work, but with the right attitude, mindset and support group, it’s possible to conquer anything!
If you have your own stories to share, I’d love to hear them! Leave them in the comments below, so we can continue to inspire one another.