Who are you?

Who are you? No, really who are you? What do you believe? What sets you off? What motivates you? What makes you feel the way you feel and why do you feel like that these are tough questions that we don't always have the answer for? But, with the little self-awareness, we can get to know ourselves better and thrive at home, in school and in life. Yes that's right, life! But what is self-awareness?

You might hear people talk about self-awareness as an important skill but what exactly is self-awareness? Simply put, it's the ability to tune into your own feelings thoughts and actions. It's about recognizing that how you act and what you say affects yourself and others. It lets us know that we are good enough, have value in this world and helps us achieve our goals. I know that's a lot to take in but let me try to make it simple. here's are the reasons why self-awareness is so important for all of us.

We can self-reflect - when something bad happens or something good, we can take a step back and really think about the situation - see what we did right and see what we did wrong. We can see how we might handle that situation differently then we can do more of what's right and less of what's wrong. So think about it, learn from it.

Recognize our strengths and weaknesses - what are you good at and what are you not so good at? When we realize this, we can begin to achieve greater and greater things. We can focus on those things we excel at and get help with the things that we know we aren't so good at. It's how we can reach our goals but here's the best part when we know our capabilities and strengths, we have the confidence to leave our fear of falling behind and say hello to the confidence to go for it.

Manage our emotions - understanding and recognizing your emotions is vital for your well-being. They are your body's way of communicating with you about what is going on. For example, if you've been let down, you may experience anger, fear, sadness so take notice because people who are good at noticing how they feel can calm themselves down or just their behavior are more likely to do well in life - have healthier relationships, manage difficulties, make better decisions and overcome setbacks. We can communicate how we feel in a way that others can understand. Who doesn't want to be understood?

We consider others - once you are skilled at recognizing your own emotions, managing them and communicating them, you can help others do the same. When we are really good at understanding how our feelings affect mood, performance and communication, we will be able to tell when the people around us are feeling a little bit off and we'll be able to respond in a way that is helpful to people

We can take criticism in life - there's gonna be haters, we can't control what others think, that's just how it is. We ignore haters but when people have constructive criticism about what we do, how we act or what we say in certain situations, we should listen, maybe we can gain a new perspective and open our eyes to things we overlooked, were never considered. It's not always easy but learning to receive feedback with an open mind helps us grow into better people.

Becoming self-aware is not easy and there is so much more to know. So practice understanding you and you will learn to self-reflect, manage your emotions, know your strengths and weaknesses, consider others and learn from feedback. So who are you?

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