There are multiple levels of this confidence nonsense. There are the trophies and compliments you receive, showing the confidence others have placed in you. They know you’re pretty cool and were a fantastic goalie in your 8U soccer league, so they gave you a laminated certificate and a participation trophy at the team banquet and off you go, convinced they think you will be the next Mia Hamm. Until soccer got dropped for gymnastics, but that’s another story altogether.
The problem with other people giving you their confidence, is that it doesn’t last. If you grow up with everyone telling you that you’re brilliant and you’re better than other kids and then are given simple, busy-work in school, eventually a challenge will come along and you won’t know how to face it. This challenge is shattering. Suddenly, you have no study skills or any form of organization or effort because, until that point, it wasn’t needed CAN YOU PROVIDE SOME CONCRETE EXAMPLES HERE?! When I reached eighth grade and had found myself living in Indiana instead of my beautiful Chicago (which was stressful enough) and realized that I actually needed to work, I had a full out existential crisis about the meaning of life and the North American education system, which I decided was crap. I didn’t need school! If I wanted to know or learn something, my endless supply of library books and Google could answer it for me. That moment was when I realized that all the trophies, and laminated certificates, and reassurances that I was a child prodigy didn’t mean a single thing. THE CONCRETE EX INSERTED ABOVE WILL HELP MAKE THIS CLEARER They were simple things here and there that led up to me having an awful work ethic and no clue how to change it. This was also the time that my opinions on confidence changed radically. MAYBE A LAST SENTENCE AS A FINAL REFLECTION WOULD HELP. I THINK USING DIALOGUE AND SPECIFIC ANECDOTES WOULD BE GOOD FOR IT.
The next level of confidence is the downward spiral you face when you realize that you are not, in fact, absolutely amazing at every single thing you do, contrary to what your parents say. HAVEN’T YOU ALREADY DISCUSSED THE PARENTS’ PERSPECTIVE? Suddenly, you’re sad and