Growing up I was one big bundle of insecurity. You name it, I was insecure about it. I was never confident in myself. This is something I work on every day. Physically and emotionally overcoming our insecurities is essential to become a stronger person.
One of my biggest insecurities growing up was my speech impediment. A lot of people are not aware of this as it is something I do not like to talk about. Thankfully, I worked hard enough in many years of speech therapy to overcome it. I got bullied endlessly about my speech impediment. I remember coming home to my mom crying because of the mean kids at school. They would purposely ask me questions in which the answer involved a word I could not say correctly. If I did not answer the question because I knew the outcome, they accused me of being rude. It got to the point where I refused to participate in class and my grade would suffer because of it. I dreaded the moment the teacher would call my name to read aloud. While reading aloud all I could hear were chuckles from the back of the room because of the way I pronounced certain words. I would quickly finish the passage on the verge of tears.
Thankfully my parents made me go to speech therapy to fix my impediment. I am forever grateful to them for that. I went to speech therapy a couple times a week. I worked so hard in those sessions because I was determined to fix the way I spoke. The pain I felt from being bullied was my motivation to work hard. I hated being pulled out for therapy because of the attention it brought so I begged my speech therapist to come to school early for our sessions. I graduated speech therapy and my impediment was gone but my insecurity was still very well present.
I was able to physically overcome my insecurity but not emotionally. I still was hesitant to participate in class and got nervous when I had to read aloud. It was not until seventh grade that I was able to emotionally overcome my insecurity. I was asked to lector at church. Me? Read in front of my classmates? Alone? No thanks. The part of me that is afraid to say no to an authority figure (and also pressure from my mom) agreed to give it a try. I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something that terrified me. I tried it and I did not fail miserably. Some of my classmates even complimented me. In that moment I was able to emotionally overcome my insecurity.
I have learned that in order to physically and emotionally overcome an insecurity you have to look at it in the face and work at it. Use the reason why you are insecure about something as your motivation to fix it. For example, the bullying at school was my motivation to fix my speech impediment. I wanted to prove to the bullies that I was capable of speaking normally.
I have also learned that you have to step out of your comfort zone in order to overcome an insecurity. This is one of the hardest and scariest things to do. It is hard to acknowledge the things you do not like about yourself. It is easier to ignore, complain and accept what you do not like. You cannot just accept your insecurities and let them hold you back. Even after my speech impediment was fixed I was still insecure about how I spoke. I let this hold me back from speaking up. You need someone to push you out of your comfort zone. If I never stepped out of my comfort zone I would have never emotionally gotten over my insecurity.
Our insecurities allow us to see the world from a different perspective. Our insecurities give us empathy, strength, courage, and determination. They give us the power to know ourselves and what we deserve. I am living proof that if you work hard enough to overcome an insecurity you will become a stronger person.
Learning to overcoming that feeling of insecurity is so powerful. This skill takes an immense amount of hard work. Every day we should try to step out of our comfort zone and try things that scare us. I believe if you are able to overcome an insecurity you can conquer the world. I honestly do not think I would be the same person I am today without my insecurity. I am thankful that I was given this challenge in life. I look forward to the many more I will encounter and overcome.
