Self Confidence & Intimidation

I always find it weird when someone tells me they find me intimidating. For a lot of my life, I felt insecure, and lacked self-confidence. Sure, there were certain areas of my life I did feel confident – my gymnastics talent, my academic grades – but when it came to social interactions and relationships, even my clairvoyant abilities, I did not have much confidence at all.

In my teens and early twenties, I had coping mechanisms where I’d be loud, or obnoxious even. As a short woman, I was often intimidated of men much larger than me, especially parents of my athletes who would try to push at me their way of doing things. I had confidence in my ability to do the job, but lacked the confidence to convey this to other people in a way that instilled confidence in me. Seems confusing? Try living that way!

It took…