[ScottJMurray]

Confidence. That's an interesting one. It's definitely a slow process. One thing that has helped me a lot is making sure my actions and my behaviors are congruent with my emotional state. If I'm feeling down, I will act down, reach out for support and comfort. If I'm feeling up, I'll act up, express how happy I am, and let that energy pervade my interactions.

I think one of the biggest mistakes that people make when trying to build confidence is that they forget the core of confidence is being OK with who you are. This means every single emotion that passes through you, you accept and embrace. You start to take pride in the way you feel, and if anyone doesn't like it (within reason, anyway), then you probably don't want to be interacting with them.

Another thing, embrace your difficulties. Being able to talk openly about being shy is a sure-fire way to start to get un-shy. Ask people what they would do if they were in your shoes. What you'll start to discover is that the chatter inside your head is only happening inside your head and has very little to do with what everyone around you is actually thinking about you.

The feelings of inferiority that surround lacking confidence are extremely angering, so identifying with that anger can be helpful as well. Adopt the mindset of "I'm not going to take anymore of this sh#* and I'm going to go get what I want from my life!"

Hope this helps. It helped me a bit.