My confidence comes and goes. Of course, other people's opinions, or misconceptions about me shake my confidence but I think it still goes through my internal filter whether the information I get is reliable for
me, to my understanding of myself. If I happen to agree with the outside influence and it's something negative, then I start to have doubts in myself.
Another thing that shakes my confidence is when I neglect to listen to myself, to my heart, when I start to analyze and overthink and try to do things as I think I should do them and not as I feel I should do them. It's probably subconscious but I don't try as hard because deep down I know that it doesn't mean that much to me, so I start to slack off and the results are not to my liking and I start to regret it, doubt myself and my ability to stay true to myself.
Remaining true to myself is very important to me because, ultimately, it's myself that I'm letting down by my own thinking and actions. My own internal disapproval is far worse than any outside influence. So, making peace with myself is the key to building inner strength.
So I started to act artificially confident and didn't let my depression affect me, and it sort of set in.
I agree with this. You'd sort of have to forcefully make yourself believe in yourself and not let the negative thoughts overwhelm you because they're not going to get you anywhere. I admit, when I'm in a weaker mindset, I often let things overwhelm me but some days everything just clicks, turns around and stays like that for quite a while. Confidence feeds confidence.