30 Things People Do That Just Scream "I'm Very Insecure"

Psychotherapist Silva told me that insecure people are sending out very clear signals with their behavior. "Insecurity carries the message: 'I'm not enough', 'I'm not good enough,' or even 'I'm worthless.' These are painful beliefs to have about ourselves but many do have those underlying beliefs," he told Bored Panda.

According to the expert, insecurity can manifest itself in a variety of ways and sometimes even polar opposite behaviors. "Insecurity can manifest either by making themselves invisible (If I'm not seen, nobody will notice my flaws), or the opposite, by what we call 'bragging': shouting at everybody about how wonderful they are. This is usually to try to persuade to themselves that they are good enough."

Some, however, choose to put down others to make themselves feel better. "Another way to counter the 'I'm not enough' is by pushing others down, sabotaging other people's success, or attacking people as a way to feel powerful so that they can control their inner pain of 'I'm not enough'. All of these strategies don't work because what they do is either internalizing or externalizing the belief 'I'm not enough' rather than changing it," Silva highlighted the fact that we must change this belief instead of attempting to cope in the ways he mentioned.

"The key to becoming more secure is to change the underlying belief 'I'm not enough' to 'I'm enough,'" the psychotherapist explained to Bored Panda. "The way to do it is with self-compassion."

According to Silva, we usually learn the 'I'm not enough' belief in childhood and it can become entrenched as we grow up. However, as we mature, we also have the means to change this underlying belief. 

"Perhaps parents didn't praise children enough, or they paid more attention to the mistakes rather than the successes. As an adult now, people can give themselves a hug once in a while and tell themselves, gently: 'you're doing good,' 'well done,' 'congratulations.' Eventually, the brain will listen and slowly change the message 'I'm not enough' to 'I'm enough,'" he noted.

"Rather than shouting your praise at other people, it is about speaking to yourself in a loving way. When people are genuinely aware of their successes, they can become genuinely more confident without the need to impose their power onto others."

Though many of us tend to think of bragging (humble or otherwise) as something that should be avoided, it does have its time and place. Specifically, during job interviews. When done from a position of confidence instead of insecurity, bragging can actually be a very powerful tool in helping you land the job of your dreams.

I’d spoken about this earlier with career coach Jermaine Murray from Jupiter HR. In his interview with Bored Panda, he explained that not doing enough to highlight our accomplishments is the number one mistake we tend to make when applying for a new job.

"They humble themselves when they need to be boasting. If you understand why the work that you were doing was important and how it impacts your org (project) then you should be explaining that to the interviewer without holding back. How did you go above and beyond to make sure things worked? What creative ways did you come up with?" Jermaine noted that we should be showing off instead of being overly humble.

A couple of ways to show others that you’re feeling confident and secure are through your body language and your tone of voice. These two tools can make or break any situation. Career coach Jermaine said that we should want to “always want to be perceived as confident and capable” because the opposite can reduce our achievements, talents, and skills to practically zero in some hiring manager’s eyes.

"If your body language or tone says otherwise, you destroy the perception of your skills. Once that's gone so are your chances of landing the job," Jermaine said.

"You can teach someone to be a better coder but it's near impossible to teach them how to be a better person. Recruiters will always value personality first, but technical skills are a very close second," the career coach said.

"Hiring managers keep that in mind and try to make sure candidates they like can perform competently. Different things contribute to this bar that aren't based on the candidate but the organization's internal ability to support and develop someone. Once those two elements are present a hire will happen.”