In this post, I share with you 15 quotes from Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness. Quiet Confidence has been a journey fought with many trials, and the act of writing Quiet Confidence was not an easy task.Â
It was, however, a book that needed to be written. It started out with a simple idea–how can I help other introverts who have fell victim to shyness? What can you do if you feel that shyness is not an option, but something that you’re are stuck with, for life?
The thought terrified me for years. For whatever reason, my quietness was assumed my greatest failing in life. That, being the quiet person who constantly gave myself a hard time for not speaking up was going to send me on a non-stop course towards regret. Regret for not trying harder to become an extrovert and speaking up when I should have.
In fact, my life was filled with moments of ‘I should have’ or ‘I could have’, and ‘but I didn’t’. That’s where regret sets in like concrete. I disliked who I was, and I felt hopeless to do anything about it.
In reality, I wasn’t a hopeless case. I wasn’t weird, I didn’t have to cast myself as a ‘loser’. The more I looked within, the more confident I felt on the outside. On this search within, I found something completely unexpected. I found my Quiet Confidence. I now know with great certainty that it’s within you, too.
If you’re ready to start your Quiet Confidence journey, visit quietconfidencebook.com.
I trust you enjoy the following quotes–if they resonate with you, share them. Share the message of Quiet Confidence.
1. Practise
It is through this practise of gratitude that I discovered something quite profound: shyness doesn’t survive when your cup is overflowing with gratitude. It doesn’t matter if you’re grateful for things that have happened or things that have yet to come to fruition, gratitude grows Quiet Confidence.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
2. The quiet ones are gift ed
The quiet ones, the introverts, are uniquely gifted. We have tremendous patience and empathy. We don’t need to say much, yet we’re able to build deep connections and rapport with those around us. The act of displaying Quiet Confidence is much easier to cultivate than we think. It’s built-in, a bundled accessory, we simply have to activate it!
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
3. Controlling the mind
3. Chaos of the mind is inevitable but control is possible.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
4. The power of meditation
Meditation has enabled me to transform from the soulless entity living on automatic to the being that could walk into the office with a big smile on my face for no good reason.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
5. Finding stillness and tranqullity
If you keep looking within, you will find stillness, a tranquillity that you’ve never experienced before. It’s like this secret space your mind can visit that unlocks new levels of creativity and confidence that you never thought possible.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
6. Awareness of Quiet Confidence
As you embark on the journey, you will start to be
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shynessrecognised for it; people willrecognise you for who you really are. Most importantly, you will start torecognise yourself and you will rarely be ruled by shyness again. You’ll develop the awareness that you’ve had Quiet Confidence from the beginning. No more hiding, no more fear, just you and Quiet Confidence like twolong lost friends, reunited at last.
7. Making peace
The adult I am today has learned that forgetting childhood was not the answer; making peace with it is. The person I am today doesn’t want to fast forward any part of life. On the contrary, I want to revel in it.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
8. Understanding childhood beliefs
Making peace with and understanding your childhood beliefs is the first step to distancing yourself from shyness and developing your Quiet Confidence.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
9. Shyness a safety mechanism
Shyness is a safety mechanism to save you from the fear of being wrong, and the ridicule that comes along with it. As human beings, we crave love, acceptance, and belonging. As part of this, we fear the opposite: shame and ridicule. If we lack confidence in ourselves, we constantly fear this—and seek external validation.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
10. The courageous voice
Quiet Confidence is the courageous voice within that helps
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
you take inspired action at the right time.
11. Coming out of the closet
Coming out of the closet was one of the most liberating things I’ve done in my life. All the worry, concern, anxiety, all that mental chatter was gone. I didn’t have to carry a secret on my shoulder anymore. Fear, doubt, shame, and worry was suddenly replaced with love and pride.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
12. Different is the new normal
Stop trying to find yourself. You’ve had it all along.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
Never feel ashamed for feeling different; different is the new normal.
13. Don’t try to be something you clearly aren’t
Forcing extroverted tendencies was unnatural. It didn’t flow and simply it wasn’t me. Trying to be an extrovert was like pretending to be straight. Just like you shouldn’t force a sexuality if it isn’t you, don’t try to be something that you clearly aren’t.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
14. Shyness and introversion
Shyness is born from a lack of self-confidence and fear of ridicule. In my case, it latched on to the young boy who didn’t have confidence in himself or his abilities after being belittled by his first-grade teacher.
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness
Introversion, on the other hand, is a tremendous gift that allows for inquisitive curiosity about life. Introversion created in this young boy a fascination with life, nature, science, creativity, and imagination.
15. Accepting the child within
The secret to accepting the child within, I
Joel Annesley, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shynessrealised , is to revisit this child withoutjudgement . It wasn’t easy—because it’s a past filled with constantself-judgement . With a constant desire to re-invent my identity, it was uncomfortable to look back at my ordinary world. But once you get past the uncomfortableness, you find peace.
Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up With Shyness is available in both paperback and ebook formats. Now it’s your turn. Tell us below about your journey–how did you overcome your shyness?