Unfortunately, we can't go into the supermarket and pick up a box of confidence from the shelves. We can't walk into our local store and ask for a kilo of confidence. Life would be much easier if we could. We all need confidence but it isn't easy getting our hands on it.
Confidence is easy to recognise and we all know when we need it. If you are unsure what it is, the dictionary will tell you that it is a feeling of being certain that you can do something without making a fool of yourself.
What the dictionary will not tell you is where you can get confidence. You have to work that out for yourself, but there are one or two things that will help as you try to get your hands on confidence when you need it.
You know that you are a great person. You might have one or two faults, but no one is perfect. That is where you start looking for confidence. You look at yourself and once you have decided that most things about you are okay, then that is the start of confidence.
Confidence is about you, so the first thing to do is stop comparing yourself to anyone else. There is only one you and you can't become someone else, so stop trying. You can like different things about different people, but remember they are not you, so don't try to copy them.
The disabled South African swimmer Natalie du Toit has the right idea when she is training. She aims to beat her own times, not those set by other people. She has the right idea about building up her skills and feeling good about her achievements, which include competing against able-bodied athletes.