By: Jared Keene

Over the past few years, I noticed something both interesting and alarming when it comes to millennials and the way they view themselves. While it is essential to one’s success to possess confidence, it would seem as though many are rather cocky instead. Confidence is something that comes from within. No one can give you confidence, nor should they be able to take it away. It isn’t knowing you are perfect or knowing that there is no one better than you. Confidence is knowing that you and everything else will be fine should your thoughts/plans not play out to be exactly as you had envisioned them in your head. It’s loving yourself enough to improve daily to be a better you every time the sun comes up.
Many individuals in this generation show confidence but many more show cockiness. The difference, at least in my opinion, is that cockiness is not formed within. Cockiness is the result of reassurance and praise from outside sources. In most cases these sources come from social media. Whether people are showing off their body, their money, expensive cars and outfits, vacation photos, etc. the praise is always there.
The DM’s, likes, comments and retweets. Usually somewhere along the lines of ” im tryna get like you/ omg you’re giving me life/ slaaay queen/ and all that other bullsh*t from fake ass people that gives me a headache. Make no mistake it is important to encourage friends and make them smile now and then, but does it do as much good as it does bad? People are turning these forms of attention and praise into nutrition to feed their ego. While their own inner-confidence is starved. The high they receive from social media plays a substantial role in their lives that it really shouldn’t. When people get cocky, they develop complacency. In other words they think nothing is wrong with them, theres no need to change for the better, no need to fix certain things about themselves, no improvements that need to be made despite how toxic of a person they are. Lets be honest, no one is perfect. Confident people love themselves but see the need to change and improve for the better daily, while cocky people see no need to fix their ways and ultimately it does not end in a positive manner. I know many who’ve lost relationships, friendships, jobs, etc. all because they believe they were better than everyone and above society and that there was NOTHING wrong with them. (To be completely honest they could’ve gone missing and no one would look for them, it sounds dark, but yes they suck that much lol.) The reality is, that reassurance and cockiness drawn in from everyone else will end one day whether people like it or not. It will slow down, dry up, however you wanna put it. And at that point people will find out how much inner happiness, confidence, and self-love they possess. If you’re confident i’m happy for you, if your cocky you better fix it quickly, people won’t put up with it forever.