On the surface level, wellness seems like a straightforward topic. When someone is introduced to the topic, the first question they ask is “Isn’t that just about health and taking care of yourself?”...
Well, yes.
That’s a part of it.
There are so many categories of wellness. This includes physical, mental/emotional, social, occupational (career), spiritual, and intellectual. One common trait they have is self-awareness is a necessity. In simplest terms, wellness is a way of living. There is no best way to live your life, only a way of living that’s best for you which is why self-awareness is the starting line of the journey.
Here are some benefits of becoming self-aware
1.It encourages positive development
This reiterates what I said in the beginning about there’s only a way of living that’s best for you. Some people may be afraid to dig that deep and get to know themselves because they don’t want to uncover their bad traits. They say if they do that they’ll want to change for others. I disagree with that. You can’t be afraid of what you’ll find out. Becoming self-aware encourages you to find out what you like and dislike about yourself. If you find out something you want to change, it’s not even about changing for other people because deep down you know that is not true. You are not changing for other people, you are changing because it’s something you started to feel about. You don’t know what others think, and you don’t know what people notice, but you noticed how knowing that about yourself made you feel. Being self-aware doesn’t mean you change for anyone. It means discovering your truth. If you like yourself how you are, that's great! If there is something that you don’t like, you decide to keep living with a trait /habit that makes you feel unhappy or decide to make improvements that make you feel better.
2.It makes you better at making decisions
Decisions can be very difficult because as humans we never want to choose the wrong one. Being self-aware helps us with the decision-making process because we are more able to put things in perspective. When you find yourself trying to decide things, you can call out your strengths vs weaknesses, your likes vs dislikes, and just things about yourself. When you understand yourself, you’ll know what’s best for you because you can ask for advice, look for answers but nothing will come close to the answer you can give yourself.
3.It improves your communication and relationships
As people, we fail to recognize what’s normal to us isn’t the same to other people like friends or even when you're in a relationship with someone. Self-awareness allows you to acknowledge your habits and to level with people that may be unfamiliar with them. For instance, when you get into an argument you may become used to just walking away and taking space to clear your head but someone else may take that as being inconsiderate or rude. You don’t need to change needing space but acknowledging that’s what you may need at the time will help you. Instead of just walking off or not texting back, simply say you need time for yourself. If they can’t respect that and overstep that boundary by keep trying to talk, you become aware of how the other person’s behavior is impacting you. You can decide to confront it and if they do the same thing over, you can decide whether or not you want that energy in your life.
4.It helps you complete your goals
Goals require measurement to be effective ( remember SMART). Self-awareness allows you to look at where you were and how far you’ve come. You can acknowledge the progress, as well as pinpoint where you are in the present. Goals are a hopeful ending, but how can you see the end without being present. You have to know who you are to get to who you want to be and the life you want to live.
5.It gives you more control of your life
Self-awareness gives you control of your emotions, thought, and perception. When you become self-aware you can separate your thoughts from what society pushes on to us. The world especially business corporations, media, and entertainment unknowingly pushes messages on us without people being fully aware of what is happening. When you aren’t self-aware, your thoughts are easily swayed by external factors. In contrast, self-awareness allows you to recognize the only thing you have true power over is your perception and allows you to accept that the way you view the world is just one vision of it.
Becoming self aware helped me realize…
I was becoming burnt out in February. When I was writing content, nothing I felt good enough and a lot of the times I ended up deleting them. Same thing happened with my youtube videos.This month was a journey for me. I hate taking breaks because as a content creator it feels like if I’m not constantly pushing out content, I’m letting people down. It was hard for me to step back, but it was the best decision. I realized that if I want to show up for readers to create content that is useful and coming from an authentic place, I need to be in my best headspace. I really wasn’t this month with the horrible news of Asians being attacked just for their race, people I’m close to getting sick, feeling like nothing I’m making is good enough, and school work just not being up to my standard… I wasn’t okay. This month has been a constant battle of internal and external things weighing on me and I needed the space to feel what I needed to. During this month I did so much reflecting on myself and about the events of the world. Only one of those things is in my control and this month has shown me that.
I wanted to end this post saying that becoming self-aware is a scary thing because you don’t know what will come out of it. However you have to trust that whatever you discover is only bringing forward what is in your best interest. No one will ever know you like you know you and no one will ever have your back like you do. You have to prioritize making time to hear yourself: hear your thoughts, hear your emotions, hear your needs and take care of them.
That is all for today. Thank you for taking the time to read. Don’t forget to like, comment, and share. Remember to subscribe to my Youtube channel, and follow my Instagram and Twitter to connect and stay up to date. I am excited about next week's blog post so make sure you come back next Saturday. Until then, there’s a lot more content on my youtube channel. I hope you have a good day, evening or night.
Until next time,
xoxo Lay 💋
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