Confidence:

Learn to stand on your own two feet; do your own thinking, don’t follow the sheep; don’t succumb to peer pressure. A confident person doesn’t need others to like them, they do what they feel they should do, and don’t act for the sole purpose of making others ‘like’ them. I found my confidence by taking up martial arts practice. Even when I practised non-effective martial arts systems, at I least built my confidence (even though it may have been false confidence of sorts).

In learning how to prevail on the mat, I eventually found the strength to walk my own path; I had the courage to say ‘no’ when I needed to; I had the courage to say ‘yes’ when I needed to; and my behaviour became driven from within rather than from the need to ‘please’ or ‘placate’, others.

When the sheep are running one way, walk calmly in the other direction. Confidence.