>>16604702
What does being a grad student have to do with anything?

>>16604708
Poor as shit, spend all your time working and your experiments still fail, feel dumb all the time due to the humbling complexity of our world... These are all generally things that chip away at your self-esteem

Bump 1/2

>>16604702
>>16604886

Just be yourself bro. Tell that bitch about science. Bitches love science.

>>16604702
It all comes from within. You have to be happy with yourself to be confident, or a good actor.

What always helps me is little victories:
I graduated high school, i don't have a drug problem, I'm not a young parent, I'm aware of myself, people around me seem to like me, and i have no real reason to actually hate myself.

You don't have to be ghandi to believe in yourself, and if you are the type to suffer with self confidence, then chances are you deserve more confidence from yourself.

There's this stupid sign i drive by everyday and it says "you deserve to be happy" the more i drive by it the more i realize that's true, the world's gonna bring you down enough, you don't need to add to the pile. Believe in yourself.

>>16604899

There is this bridge I used to drive by while going to work. It had graffiti on it. It said:

"Good morning, Lemmings"

confidence isn't something that's situational. you can make $200k a year and still have confidence issues. these people often say and even think they're confident but they end up being assholes to others due to their insecurities.

real confidence starts from accepting yourself, and perhaps more importantly, taking realistic steps to improve yourself.

Thank you for all your replies, but I still don't know what I'm supposed to be confident about. Am I just supposed to have a can do attitude about everything and pretend I'm the best and that anyone who doesn't want to get to know me is an idiot?

>>16604978
look into yourself, really analyze your personality. realize what makes yourself tick. the more you understand yourself, the more you'll become aware of any problems you might have. awareness is the key. you can only start working on things once you're aware of them. and just being more self aware is good for confidence as well.

>>16604978
You have to hold yourself to a proper standard for starters. I never understood how people could be self confident when they're so shitty all the time, and i always felt like shit, as if i never gave enough. But once you get a perspective on how actually valuable you are to yourself and your friends and family, it should come along with it.

>>16604727
Go out to bars and drink.

What do you study? If it's STEM, and since you mentioned experiments it probably is, then you're doing fine and a lot of women see you as a guy with a lot of potential. Not as worthless as you say by any means.

If you're some kid studying Iranian film at a state school and you've been doing that for 10 years now then, yeah, you've got some things to work out.

>>16604978
>what to feel confident about
i think this is the wrong approach. you shouldn't try to single out qualities because doing that implies you're dependent on those qualities. you shouldn't feel confident because you make a lot of money or because you're beautiful. those people end up turning into assholes to people less rich/beautiful than them.

you should instead realize that you're just as complete a human being as anyone else out there. you might not be the prettiest or the smartest woman in the college/city/world, but you're also not the ugliest or the dumbest woman. I'm not saying you should lie to yourself or be content at being mediocre. I'm saying there's a balance in things and you should try to find that happy medium for yourself as well.

>>16605017
I'm under the impression that potential doesn't mean squat for my value from a young 20- something women's perspective
>>16605039
Women don't seem to be interested in mediocrity and quite frankly neither am I, despite being pretty average much of the time