I suffered from depression and social anxiety during highschool, which meant I just shyed away from everything, including dating. For a long time I was convinced I was unattractive, I no longer think this, I've slowly come to terms that I'm NOT ugly and actually have the capability to be very attractive and am not actually terribly fat (I perceived myself to be) however there still is a degree of insecurity about my body, among other things.  

I think I've narrowed down the root of my problem to constantly trying to make myself "acceptable" for the public when in reality I should just live for me, right? Unfortunately, I guess it's obvious though that my self-esteem kinda sucks and my confidence in myself is just really crappy, so I was wondering if anybody had any methods in which I could use to build more confidence in myself? I really don't know how to go about doing that. I have strong talents, but it's really no big deal for me...it's just stuff that I do.

I feel if I had more confidence, I could attract people better and  wouldn't be so scared to try to initiate a relationship with a girl and be more open to do so (I've rejected girls before because of insecurity.) So any advice whatsoever would be really helpful.  

Post edited at 7:18 pm on June 14, 2008 by metrico