How well do you really know yourself?
Describing a best friend or sibling comes easy for most people. In a matter of seconds, we reel off a list of qualities that we’ve come to associate them with and identify them by over the years- funny, works-well-under-pressure, extroverted (with a penchant for wearing my clothes without asking) are some qualities that come to mind when describing mine. You would think we would find it just as easy, if not easier, to show how well we know ourselves but this is rarely the case.
Defined as a conscious knowledge of yourself or your character, self-awareness is the foundation to having a better relationship with yourself and the people you interact with. Studies (http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2010-25587-001) have shown that the people around you are often more accurate at describing your personality traits than you are. And the fact that our emotions and thoughts are always changing can make the task of knowing ourselves even more difficult.
So how can we start to know ourselves better? Asking the following questions, or variations of them, will be sure to have you reeling off your personal attributes just as quick as you would for your best friend:
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How would you describe yourself in a sentence?
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What are your biggest strengths?
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What are your biggest weaknesses?
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When are you at your best?
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What are you doing when you find yourself loosing track of time?
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What gets you up in the mornings?
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What does the best version of you look like?
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Do you treat yourself as well as you do others?
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What motivates you to make progress?
Writing your answers down gives you a great way to track the progression of your character throughout the years and makes for some interesting insight; 15-year-old me listed one of her biggest weaknesses as her love for sleep (I guess some things stay the same.)