What is Self-Awareness, and Why is it Important?

 Zhariyah Mack

Professor Harris

English 2017

2 May 2022

What is Self-Awareness, and Why is it Important?

Self-awareness is very important to one’s health for many reasons. What is self-awareness? Self-awareness has multiple definitions. To sum it up, it simply means to be aware of your feelings, actions, and character.  Self-awareness is a very important factor to personal growth, and it is a factor that many people lack.

             Self-awareness is a major contributor to how people view themselves and how other’s view them. Because of this, people will do things without realizing it. For example, according to Kendra Cherry, “self-awareness becomes woven into the fabric of who you are and emerges at different points depending on the situation and your personality.” Many psychologists break self-awareness down into two types, private and public. Private self-awareness is when people are somewhat aware of a particular part of themselves. Public self-awareness is when people know that attention is on them, so they will behave how others expect them to behave (Cherry). These are good examples of how people are not self-aware. Instead of people being who they are and acting according to their own values, they will act how others want them to act because they want to fit in.

            Another reason why people lack self-awareness is because they are so caught up in reaching their goals that they completely forget who they are. This can cause them to make quick and irrational decisions. A perfect example of this is the character Janie from the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Hurston. Janie’s granny always made decisions for her because she wanted Janie to live a safe life. To make sure Janie has a safe life, her granny married her off to an old man who is not necessarily rich, but he lives a comfortable life. Because Janie wanted to make her own decisions and wanted to marry a man who would fit into her marriage goals, she runs off with the first man that gave her attention. She immediately marries this man who later ended up being abusive and manipulative. Twenty years through this marriage after, she later marries another man who also ended up not being a great man. Janie was so quick to make decisions that it cost over 20 years of her life, and she ended up single. Because she was so focused on finding her perfect husband, she lost sight of herself.  Many people tried to warn Janie about these men, but she would listen. According to Tasha Eurich, one of the most consistent behaviors of an un-self-aware person is “they won’t listen to, or accept, critical feedback” (Eurich, Working With People…).

            Self-awareness affects how you grow as a person. You can make many mistakes in life, but you can grow from those mistakes if you are self-aware. As stated by Dr. Jacqueline Baulch, “awareness of these aspects of yourself is the first step to change and growth. After all, you can’t change what you don’t know.” Self-awareness is like an internal world for your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations and urges (Baulch). It is important to pay attention to your thoughts and emotions. If you don’t pay attention to these things, it could cause you a lot of anxiety and stress. Congruent to what was mentioned before, people can categorize self-awareness. Tasha Eurich has examined that researchers have categorize self-awareness into internal and external. “Internal self-awareness, represents how clearly, we see our own values, passions, aspirations, fit with out environment, reactions (including thoughts, feelings, behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses), and impact on others.” External self-awareness is understanding how others view us (Eurich, What Self-Awareness Really Is…). Growing as a person means accepting who you are, your values and goals, and accepting how others view you. Nobody is perfect and accepting that means that you are self-aware. As stated by Tchiki Davis, everyone has “good” and “bad” traits. To self-reflect, we need to forgive ourselves for our imperfections (Davis).

            As concluded, it is important to be self-aware. Lacking self-awareness can cause a lot of problems throughout life, but if you do lack self-awareness, there are many ways to build it up. Being self-aware can help you live a happy and healthy life. It can also help you when it is time to make important decisions.


 

Works Cited

 

Baulch, Jacqueline. “Self-Awareness: The Key to Taking Care of Your Mental Health and Wellbeing.” Inner Melbourne Clinical Psychology. n.d. https://www.innermelbpsychology.com.au/self-awareness-mental-health/

 

Cherry, Kendra. “Self-Awareness Development and Types.” Verywell Mind. 14 July 2020. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-awareness-2795023.

 

Davis, Tchiki. “What Is Self-Awareness, and How Do You Get It?” Psychology Today. 11 Mar. 2019. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-happiness/201903/what-is-self-awareness-and-how-do-you-get-it.

 

Eurich, Tasha. “What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It).” Harvard Business Review. 4 Jan. 2018. https://hbr.org/2018/01/what-self-awareness-really-is-and-how-to-cultivate-it.

---. “Working with People Who Aren’t Self-Aware.” Harvard Business Review. 19 Oct. 2018. https://hbr.org/2018/10/working-with-people-who-arent-self-aware.

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