I have grown up in a world where confidence is everything. Confidence shows strength and gives you the little extra boost you need to accomplish your goals. Throughout my life, I have really had to push myself to be confident, even in times when I was most afraid. Honestly, I sometimes struggle with my confidence even when I know I should be most confident.

Recently while traveling to Barcelona, I found myself really struggling with my confidence, especially with my Spanish skills. When I got confused at a train station or hostal and needed to ask for help, my first instinct was to ask for help… in English. Maybe I wanted to make sure I was understanding their instructions, or maybe I was just afraid of saying something incorrectly. Honestly, it seemed to be the latter. In my times of confusion in Barcelona, I felt comfort in falling back on my native language, even if the person I was talking to spoke little English. But, I could not fall back on my precious English every time.

After asking questions in English for what seemed like the millionth time, I was finally snatched away from my comfort zone and had to speak to a gentleman that spoke no English. Now, I have been studying Spanish for eight years, and I knew I could talk to this man, but there is something about being out of my norm that initially freaked me out. So, we had our conversation, and I asked my questions, and low and behold, we perfectly understood one another.

After reflecting upon this conversation, I realized that I do not need to rely on English when speaking to salespeople or customer service personnel. I can speak in Spanish, and I can do it well. I have just got to try. From here on out, in Spain and elsewhere, I will speak in Spanish first, whether or not I am confident at all. And now I realize that if I jump in and do it, my confidence will continue to grow.

Truly, that is how we should all be. Be confident in your skills, especially when abroad. And if you feel you have little confidence, just try anyways. If you mess up, you will have millions of more opportunities to prove your worth. With effort comes confidence, and as the great Carrie Fisher once said,

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.”

sinceramente