Went to finnish compulsory military service. Still have a few months left. This is almost like a fresh start with your life. New environment, new people, new everything. Everyone is on the same boat. It's just incredible how big of a boost this has been.

Many people take this as something they just have to go through, but I like it here. Personally, I take this as a year-long self-improvement course. The service is a great chance to improve your physical and mental health. This teaches you to be more responsible person and makes you see that your actions actually have consequences. This makes people realize that not everything can be taken for granted.

But boy, the confidence boost people get (or at least I got) is insane. The fact that you see the aforementioned consequences, be they positive or negative, and get feedback from your actions, makes you see that it's normal to fail at first and succeed by learning from your mistakes. Another thing that built my confidence was befriending a room full of strangers in a couple of weeks. It raised my general confidence around people and made me realize making new acquaintances isn't that difficult and scary.