Build and Flex your Confidence Muscles
At age 8, Ann was locked into a bathroom with her worst fear…a spider. Although Ann screamed, yelled and pleaded with her stepmother; she would not let her out. The only way out of the bathroom was by killing the spider. That is when Ann realized that in order to not be trapped with her fears – she had to face them. She killed the spider and faced all her fears from that day on.
At 34, Ann is not without fears but she does possess impeccable self-confidence. Whether it’s been being overweight, dealing with horrible acne, making it through Marine Corps Boot Camp and Marine Corps Officer Candidate School, leading Marines, standing up for herself against sexual discrimination, starting and failing at various businesses, dealing with rejection…you name it – nothing has tarnished her confidence or positive attitude.
Raised by a strict step-mother, emotionally absent father and physically absent mother; Ann had to grow up fast and quickly became self-reliant and very independent. Two months after her high school graduation she left to join the Marine Corps; she turned 18 at Parris Island.
She had a fabulous career going in the Marine Corps but got out after 10 years; she had reached the rank of Captain after starting out as a private.
Ann needed new challenges and did she ever find them…pursuing the life of an entrepreneur. When you have no fear of failure but you fail, three times, it’s likely to crush you but as you see; Ann is still very much at it. How?!? Because she is confident in herself, her future, and life.
Are you looking for that kind of confidence? Yes! Good, you came to the right place and the right person.
Dear Ann,
Very interesting life story and very intense.I’ve watched those short videos you put on this website, and I found them very interesting.I’ve experienced a lot in my life, and this what I went throught taught me many great things.I strongly agree with you that confidence is very important in our life so that we won’t regret anything what we intended to do in our life, such as making our dreams come true.Throughout my life, which I call the most exciting journey that I guess everyone is on, I’ve experienced what others experienced; pain, struggle, disappointment, happiness etc.I believe that we can learn a great deal from our experience if we observe it very closely.There were days in my life that I thought I would give up, but a driving force was and still is pushing me forward.Your story and your words are giving me more strength.To have faith in myself and in this what I love to do in my life drives me forward.I’ve learned one thing when researching the topics you speak on in this videos that in order to make change in our life we need to love ourselves first.Everyone has as a child inside, the child that was born long time ago, the child that we forgot about as we grew older.If we will learn how to love ourselves then we will learn how to love others, and the confidence that we need to find will follow after.No fear, no fear
There are many things that I have learned over the years and I wish to list them here,however, I do not know if everyone will agree with me on that, but here it goes:Remember, sucess is a journey, not a destination.Have faith in your ability,and you will do just fine.You have to create your own luck.You have to be aware of the opportunities around you and take advantage of them.Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.To me, defeat in anything is merely temporary, and its punishment is but an urge for me to exert greater effort to achieve my goal.Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth.Learning is definitely not mere imitation, nor is it the ability to accumulate and regurgitate fixed knowledge, it is a constant process of discovery a process without end.What is the meaning of life? the meaning of life is that it is to be lived.Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning.I guess there is a lot that can be said, but that’s it for now.I have not given up my dreams.I struggled and learned from my struggles, but the confidence that I builed in me led me to achieve my goals.Last year I graduated with MSc degree in science, which I thought would never happen, but I made it. When I came to the states 20 years ago from another country, I could not speak a single word in English, and I was just a simple young man working hard in a dirty factory, where people pushed me constantly everyday. I’ve experienced hate from others towards me, but it is not worth it to give hate back because once the hate is expressed is returns to you. Love, true, real love is the most important. Ah, well, so I have not given up and next year I am going back to school for my PhD in my most beloved science,which is paleontology.I made it come true, strong confidence and strong faith can move mountains, and in my life these two things moved the highest mountain, and I want to climb itto its very top.To whoever will read my message I’d like to say that I’ve never given up.If you have a dream then go for it and make it all come true and trust me,the journey that you will put yourself on is worth it, trust me, it is worth it.The happiness and satisfaction will be great at the end.Just remember to thank yourself for everything what you have done each day and to love yourself, love the child in you, let this child that is inside you know that you have for it the greatest love.If you love yourself honestly then you will love others, no hate, but positive energy should enter your heart and life.You are worthy of happiness and success, just as everyone else you need to believe in it and take actions to make it come true. Lastly, I’d like to thank you Ann for your inspiration that you gave me and thank you that long time ago I was fortune to meet you in person.It was only a very short meeting, but I am happy.Your inspiration will live in me forever and it will continue as I will journey through my life and wherever it may take me.I wish you the best, happiness and may all your dreams come true.Thank you kindly for everything, you are an inspiration.Be well.
I found your post while researching resources for building confidence for my own website and I was impressed by a couple of items in your post, the lines about are you living your circumstances instead of living your dreams in particular. Even though I’m no longer shy, timid, or insecure like I used to be reading that made me think about my current circumstances from a different perspective. I tend to focus on the work to get where I want to be rather than on what the life/person I want to have/become is like. And I think that latter perspective is better because it’s more total. It’s not what I do so much as who and what I am that matters. Thanks for that insight!
Thank you Cynric for leaving such a thoughtful comment. I am very glad to hear that what I wrote resonated with you and had an impact. It’s an amazing shift to have take place in our lives once we realize what matters most is to be driven by becoming the person we have the potential to become/aspire to be and how our dreams, ambitions and vision are there to be leveraged to lead us to become that person – have “that” life. It allows us to overcome challenges, obstacles more easily and get over pain faster. It empowers us to get past the pity and avoid drama. I know my dreams have pushed me past all of my limits, hangs up, issues, etc. Although I have not yet materialized my vision in a material way – I have become the person I set out to become and I continue to grow and nurture that person…while committing ever more to my goals, dreams and vision. Hope you’ll keep me posted. Wishing you the very best on your journey!