^ Losing makes you funny. Winning makes you handsome. These guys are wise. I don't know what else to offer other than that. It's hard, but take it one step at a time and enjoy each step forward and don't rue each step back. Learn how to look at yourself in the mirror and smile until the smile is real. I think acting is actually an incredibly good way to learn confidence. You force yourself to be centre-stage and you learn how to be somebody else. You get to pick a character that you wish you were more like and you learn to act like them until you become them. It's trite, I know, but that's something you'll have to get over too. Hey, that's me!
Lot's of good advice... I agree that teaching really is a great way to build confidence -- there's nothing like lecturing college students, especially the younger ones but it doesn't have to be formal teaching or teaching as a profession to work. Rycher, if you have a special skill, hobby, or interest, you could teach classes or hold workshops on whatever that subject might be at Churches/Synagogues/Mosques, community centers, schools that stay open after hours, coffee shops, or anywhere else with available space and have a blast while building social confidence. If you live near one, universities often offer non-credit courses that are open to the entire community and taught by anyone who decides to offer one (no special degree or certification required). The great thing about teaching, even if it's just a group of 4 or 5 people, is that you build that social confidence while pulling from expertise or a subject you're already confident and competent in. Since you're the teacher, you automatically get assigned the role of authority figure and expert and realizing that tends to help break through the fears some have of public speaking. Also, given what you've said regarding your daughter I think you should take the role of advocate in conflict situations because the confidence appears to already be there. If you're quick to break someone in half for her but scared to engage people in areas where they're being rude or hostile you should imagine that you're not simply standing up for yourself but for others. With an unruly customer, realize you're confronting him/her on behalf of others --even if no one else is there not confronting a prick gives him/her incentive to repeat the behavior wherever he/she goes. No one else has the power or authority to stop them but you not only have the power but also the responsibility to engage them. It's not a matter of them just giving you a bad day -- they're disturbing other people.
Oh Rycher, I was going to mention something else. Start by listing off all of the things that you're good at. This is your foundation, and it's bigger than you think it is. Modesty is for other people.
I'll third it if I can be like Meatloaf and ignore the 'no shirts' part of the rules, being rather tubsy.
I claim Ed Norton's part, I'm already an insomniac and I want to beat up somebody good looking. Where's Philo ?
Day one, day one Start over again Step one, step one I’m barely making sense For now I’m faking it ‘Til I’m pseudo-making it From scratch, begin again But this time I as “I” And not as “we”