Sometimes a teacher believes in you before you do. It’s fine to borrow theirs until yours shows up.

Confidence does not always arrive from inside first. Somebody who has taught hundreds of people your age can often see what you are capable of earlier than you can, because they have a bigger sample and less of your history with yourself. Taking them at their word is not fooling yourself. It is using a more experienced read of the evidence while your own is still forming.

Think of one adult who has said something about you that you quietly dismissed. Act as though they were right for a week, and see what you attempt. If the work holds up, that is your evidence now, not theirs.