Who is the most confident person you know?
Confidence is a veil. A mask. A performance. It doesn’t truly exist—not in the way we think it does. You see someone walk into a room, own a conversation, speak without hesitation, and you assume they’ve got it all figured out. But do we really know what’s going on in their head? No. No one does.
Some people use confidence as armour, a way to protect themselves from the world. Others don’t have a filter and say whatever comes to mind, mistaking bluntness for self-assurance. When I was younger, I was in awe of those who seemed unshakable, the ones who carried themselves like nothing could touch them. But the older I got, the more I realised—confidence is just another trick. A way to survive. Some people just hide their battles better than others.
If I had to pick the most confident people I’ve known, three come to mind.
The first is my dad. He carried himself like he feared nothing—no man, no situation, nothing. When I was a kid, I saw him as someone who always had control, never flinched, never hesitated. But as I got older, I saw past it. It wasn’t fearlessness, it was just a hard shell. A way to keep things locked inside.
Then there’s my brother. Loud, unfiltered, says what he wants, when he wants. He fills the space around him. Growing up, I used to think he had this confidence I could never match. But as I got to know him better, I saw the same thing—his way of dealing with life was just different. His confidence wasn’t the absence of struggle, it was just another way of covering it up.
And then there’s an old friend from school. He had this natural charisma, this effortless way of making people laugh, pulling them in, making them feel like they belonged. It’s never left him. He still carries that same energy, that same happy-go-lucky attitude. But we all have our tests. Our struggles. He probably falls asleep at night thinking about his own, just like the rest of us do.
That’s the thing—confidence is never as real as it looks. We all wear a mask. Some people just wear theirs better.
The Narratives - Mohamed Miah 
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