I was reading this thread when it got me thinking about how I managed to go from having incredibly low self-esteem to living and believing in my confidence.

From my childhood throughout most of high school, I've been overweight and constantly put down by classmates and even family over how fat I was (my body fat percentage was about 35%). My self-esteem was incredibly low and it made me anti-social. It wasn't until the last year of high school that I decided to hit the gym and start shaping up. I lost a lot of weight by the time college came around, even becoming somewhat lean. I received a lot of compliments over my weight loss, but because I was constantly put down as a kid, I never believed them and insisted I was still fat (around this time, I was about 25% body fat).

The biggest change came during my last year of college when I started realising that all these compliments I've been receiving were actually true. My body fat hit 20% and I was still complaining over the flab around my gut. Problem was that I complained around one of classmates, who was legitimately obese. It kinda pissed him off and made me feel quite embarrassed. I essentially became one of "those" people who were basically anorexic and still worry about people calling them fat. I didn't want to be that person, so I decided to just accept myself for who I am.

What I mean by this is that whenever someone gave me a compliment—even if they're the only person who made it—I accept it as complete truth. I take immense pride and confidence in it, and walk around believing in it (remember, you can't just tell yourself you're confident; you have to live it). That is not to say I'm cocky, for if someone compliments me on my physique or how much I can lift at the gym, I say "thanks, I worked hard for years to earn it." And if anyone dares to call me fat (my parents still do), I just ignore them off and tell myself that they have no idea what the fuck they're talking about.

My example only covers the physical aspect, but it can be applied to anything else as well. Chances are that if you have low self-esteem, I'm sure there's still a few people in your life who have given you compliments. Take them. Take them and make them true to you. This is how you live confidence—not by acting and pretending that you are.