Priya, a young lady who is about 20 years old, felt confused about herself. She was so engrossed in what other people were doing or helping them out that she forgot about herself. She reacted impulsively many times to situations and did not know why she reacted the way she did. As a result, her friends moved away from her, did not make much effort to interact with her and kept things to themselves due to her lashing-out behaviour. Priya did not know but it led to the belief that “I’m just unlucky, and life is unfair to me”. There were several jobs she had to leave due to her impulsivity and lost a lot of important people in her life. As a result, she felt alone and lost. What we observe in this scenario is her lack of self-awareness. Keeping this in mind, let us focus on the importance of self-awareness.
What is Self-Awareness?
According to APA, self-awareness is “any theory of the consequences of focusing attention on the self”. As Aristotle says, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” It surely is the first step to solving problems in your life. If we know our inner self, we definitely will be able to know our outer self too i.e. our actions and motivations in different situations whether it be why we lashed out how our behaviours affected the other individual, or being aware of our triggers. There are two types of self-awareness i.e. Internal and External Self Awareness. Internal self-awareness is being aware of your strengths, weaknesses, goals, beliefs, motivations and how your actions align with your values. Studies show that internal self-awareness is correlated with higher job and relationship satisfaction, personal and social control along happiness and is negatively associated with anxiety, stress and depression.
On the other hand, external self-awareness is being open to feedback, recognizing how your behaviour is affecting others and adjusting your behaviour with your true intentions towards others. According to research, people are better at demonstrating empathy and considering other people’s viewpoints when they are aware of how others see them. Employees are more likely to have a positive relationship with, be satisfied with, and perceive leaders who see themselves as their employees as being more productive overall. Here is a 2×2 self-awareness map you can use to see how self-aware you are:
Why is it important to be self-aware?
Self-awareness helps us better understand ourselves, whether it be our goals, strengths, or weaknesses. It also helps strengthen our relationships with others, facilitate greater decision-making, increase personal growth, and even improve self-confidence, i.e., feeling more worthy of oneself, and trusting oneself more.
Moreover, self-awareness helps in better stress management i.e. it helps you deal with daily stressors more effectively. It can also help you deal with your career advancements as well as it helps you work better with your colleagues in a team, accepting feedback, and keeping an open mind. It helps you bounce back in the face of challenges.
Being self-aware is truly a blessing since it also helps give us more clarity of our purpose and helps us set meaningful goals for ourselves. If you also know what triggers you, you can deal with conflict effectively in a calm manner.
To conclude, Self-awareness is surely a boon and can make life more meaningful and easier. So go ahead and open your journal or diary and write your strengths, weaknesses and goals today!