Have you ever experienced one of those special moments when you learn something new about yourself and a lightbulb flashes on?
These special moments of deeper understanding in your life are known as “Aha moments.”
It’s in these brief encounters with your self that you gain a little more insight into this world and your place in it. You’ve tapped into a little Self-Awareness.
And the closer you get to defining who you are and fulfilling that definition, the more Self-Aware and happier you will be.
This idea of wanting to find out life’s purpose and our individual place in this world is as instinctual as survival. The hardest thing you will have to do on your journey to Self-Discovery is filter all the external noise coming from anything or anyone that takes away from your Self-Concept, your Self-Esteem, and your Self-Awareness.
“You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script.” -Oprah Winfrey
Watch our for these three inhibitors to Self-Awareness. You will be pushed, pulled, and persuaded to believe things about yourself that may conflict with or override your internal voice.
Inhibitor 1: Your Roles
Any position in which you carry a responsibility or commitment like being a parent, child, friend, volunteer, student, or employee is a role. Many people proudly define themselves by their various roles.
But you can get so caught up in fulfilling any one of your roles, that you lose sight of who you are outside of it…to the point where you have a hard time remembering why you even chose that role in the first place.
You will start to move away from Self-Awareness when you give more energy toward your role than you have budgeted for. When this happens, there is less energy available for Self-Care. As a result, stress levels rise as your plate gets too full, and you actually become less efficient, less productive, and less happy both with yourself and with your role. At this point, you have moved from Self-Awareness to survival.
Inhibitor 2: People
In your life, you will cross paths with friends, family, teachers, preachers, mentors, bosses, coworkers, coaches, teammates, and on and on the list goes. The way in which you interact with your peers can shape your Self-Esteem and impact how you view your self.
When someone you trust offers an opinion or advice, you could be more inclined to make choices that you believe will meet their expectations, even when you are giving up some of yourself in the process. It is important that you temper the need to receive their input and approval with the need to be true to who you are.
Inhibitor 3: The Media
It’s everywhere, it’s all the time, and it’s relentless. Nearly 63% of the world’s population uses the internet, with a slightly larger portion having a television in their home. Over 80% of the people in the world use a smartphone. The access to technology makes it virtually impossible to get away from the non-stop influence of commercials, advertisements, news, and social media.
Even for those with a strong sense of Self-Awareness, there is truth to the idea that what you see is who you are. And on average, we expose ourselves to nearly 3 hours of social media every day. We fall in love with YouTubers and TikTokers. And regardless of how they are actually doing, we often mistake the amazing way things look for them on the outside as being a strong representation of how they are on the inside. So, we do our damndest to replicate and mimic what we see in the lives of those people that are in our phones, even to the extent in which we are willing to compromise our own personal values.
Out of the 117 billion people that have lived on this planet, you are not like ANY of them. So, who are you?
You are unique.
You are more than your job. You are not limited by what your friends, coworkers or family say that you are or should be. And you are certainly special in your own way, just as you are, regardless of the latest trend on Insta.
P!nk offers some encouragement to allow yourself to shine through:
“Throw your head back and spit in the wind. Let the walls crack, ’cause it lets the light in. Let ’em drag you through hell, They can’t tell you to change who you are. That’s all I know so far.”
You are always evolving, growing, and changing. You will constantly be learning more about yourself from the decisions you make and the interactions that you have. When you know who you are, everything changes. With this in mind, know that Self-Awareness isn’t something that you achieve or a box that you check off when you get there. Instead, Self-Awareness is an organic, living opportunity to better your life.
Working to be in tune with who you really are on the inside and trying to bring that together with how that manifests outside in the world is true Self-Awareness. Unfolding it is a lifelong journey that will bring you confidence, fulfillment, and happiness.
Axiology 