Fully understanding ourselves is often overlooked as we associate confidence and self-awareness with the need to meet external demands.
Embarking on the journey towards greater self-awareness and confidence can be transformative. It not only enhances our personal and professional lives but also enriches our interactions with others. In this blog, I share some personal experiences and strategies that have helped me develop these essential qualities.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, self-awareness is defined as the knowledge and understanding of your own character. This quality, along with self-confidence, is crucial for personal growth and significantly enhances your overall well-being and success in various personal and professional aspects of life.
Understanding ourselves allows us to engage with others authentically, with empathy and emotional intelligence. By embracing our strengths and acknowledging our flaws, we create space for authentic connections to develop.
My Journey Towards Greater Confidence
I have always been someone driven by goals and eager to learn and grow. However, none of it happens without taking responsibility for building my own self-awareness.
For many years, I resisted this process without realising it. I thought I knew myself well, but there was much more I could learn if I just let go and surrendered to the feelings I had been holding off.
Despite attending personal development seminars, courses, and reading books, I would often stop myself when feelings of sadness or anxiety surfaced. Fearful of where they might lead, I preferred to keep them ‘under the surface.’
The brain and body are designed to alert you to danger, both physical and emotional. The more I tried to ignore and push these feelings down, the more they resurfaced in similar situations.
Breaking the Cycle
I found myself going around in circles, not truly dealing with my feelings and thus not gaining the self-awareness I needed. It might not make much sense yet, so let me explain what I have learnt about building greater self-awareness and confidence.
If you resonate with any of these feelings, know that you too can use these strategies to manage and overcome them.
4 Strategies I use to Build Greater Self-Awareness and Confidence
1. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
This might seem strange, but experiencing something first hand is the only way to truly understand how you’ll react. By putting myself in situations that felt outside my comfort zone, I was able to learn how I responded to them.
I think that this is a powerful way to start to build a really good gauge and ‘gut feeling’ for yourself, by knowing how you will react or behave in a certain situation. It enables future you to have the confidence that you are making the right decision, because it ‘feels right’. You would only know this by experiencing the feeling of being uncomfortable and outside your usual comfort zone. Fear wont stop you moving forward again!
What it taught me: I learnt that in unfamiliar or challenging situations, I tend to retreat internally and would sometimes become defensive, which is not how I want to be perceived. Recognising this pattern helped me understand that these reactions were often triggered by low self-esteem, feeling emotionally vulnerable or not feeling that I’m not wanted or worthy of the situation that I was in. This could be either a work or social situation, both would ignite the same feelings.
Now, when I feel anxious or vulnerable, I try to emotionally take a step back, assess the situation to help shift my focus to better deal with my feelings.
2. Journaling
Journaling helps you recognise patterns in your behaviour and provides a starting point for change. For me, it’s essential to get my thoughts and feelings onto paper, which is far better than letting them run through my head endlessly.
If you are not used to writing down your thoughts or journaling, then here a few questions to get you started.
- What was the situation?
- How was I feeling?
- How did I react, and in hindsight, would I have acted differently?
- What did I learn about myself?
3. Surround Yourself with the Right People
While it’s not always possible to choose who you spend time with, understanding what you need and value in a person makes it easier to decide who to be around. Being clear about your own feelings and needs allows you to communicate more effectively and build better relationships too.
For more detail around this subject, read my blog How Does Having Greater Self-Awareness Make You a Better Friend?
4. Continuous Learning
Engaging in self-development through books, courses, and events provides insight into your own personality, patterns, and behaviours. For example, learning to replace self-criticism with positive self-talk can positively impact your self-awareness and confidence.
Benefits of Greater Self-Awareness and Confidence
The path to greater self-awareness is continuous and evolves as you do. By getting to know yourself better, you can enhance your relationships, both with yourself and others. Taking the time to do the internal work, will ultimately make you a happier person.
Benefits include:
- It helps you to make better decisions
- It helps you to become the best version of yourself
- It assists you to building stronger relationships
- It reduces stress
Building self-awareness and confidence is a journey that requires patience and persistence, but the rewards are well worth the effort.
I hope that you find this helpful and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
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