Fakin' It

Have you ever heard the expression, "Fake it 'til you make it"? You know, the idea that if you pretend that you are capable of doing something, or if you pretend that you have a certain quality, eventually you actually will be capable, or will have said desirable quality.

I always thought the idea was bull. Because if I could pretend to do something, I wouldn't be having such a hard time doing it, right?

Well, not right.

One of my resolutions this year was to become more self-confident. I've always been extremely self-conscious, both of my actions and my appearance (although the latter started much more recently than the former), so this was something I wanted to change about myself.

But how do I work on being more self-confident? Well, if you ask anyone on the internet (and I do mean anyone), they'll tell you, at one point, the same thing: "Fake it 'til you make it."

But how are you supposed to fake self confidence?

One of my favourite speeches was one made by Neil Gaiman, at a university graduation ceremony in 2012. Towards the end, he said, "So be wise, because the world needs more wisdom, and if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would."

If I had known that acting would be a required life skill, I would have invested more time and money in some drama classes.

Earlier this year, I finally caved. "FINE!" I screamed. (Mentally. God, I'm not that crazy.) "I'll do it! I'll play your little make-believe game!" And so I did. And it worked.

As it turns out, after saying things like, "I am so hot damn gorgeous," so many times, you actually start to believe it. When I first started saying it, I was, to an extent, joking...until one day I woke up and decided, "You know what? I am hot damn gorgeous!" (This revelation can be made evident by the fact that my phone is filled with more selfies than I ever thought I would take. Not as many as my sister, but eh, I'm still a work in progress.)

It's no different from when we were kids, and we pretended to be super heroes or princesses or whatever. Make-believe isn't just for kids, y'know.


Until later,

- Justyne