We meet new people in our lives everyday and in the process of getting to know one another, questions like; “how would you describe yourself, what do you like, what makes you the happiest”, come up.
We often answer them vaguely depending on who we are answering. But how often do we ask ourselves these questions and how do we answer them? In this article, let’s be the ones asking ourselves questions; “Who am I? What are my strengths and weaknesses? Where do I want to be in the next two years?”
In his Oprah’s Master Class interview, Hip Hop mogul Jay-Z stated the importance of self awareness as the greatest foundation to greatness. Self-awareness is a process which begins with studying oneself truthfully. Imagine yourself alone without your friends and family; what type of activities would you be involved in without their influence, what makes you the happiest without trying to fit in, what defines you as an individual. In the process of studying oneself, you are going to learn about your strengths and weaknesses, which you can both use in your favour. Accept what you cannot change about yourself, work on what you can change and embrace what you love and appreciate about yourself. Our weaknesses are only our low points if we are not aware of them and we do not know how prevent them from overpowering us. If you are aware that you are not the best in mathematics, you make time to practise more so you can achieve a pass grade even if it is not a distinction. You embrace your strengths more and do more activities that are in line with your strengths.
Knowing oneself leads to self-enhancement and doing more of what makes you a better person than what breaks you. You start aligning yourself with people with common interests, whom you can learn from instead of doing things that you are not passionate about just to fit in. Not everyone is going to like either way, whether you are true to yourself or you are pretending so you might as well go ahead and be you. There is one person that you should always make sure he/she loves and accepts you, and wants to see you doing great; and that person is yourself.
Self-awareness leads to contentment and being comfortable in your own skin ( who will say no to that). It helps in setting realistic goals and knowing how best to achieve them. Fellow young people, I do not know any time in the history of human kind that had unlimited possibilities as right now. And these unlimited possibilities starts in our minds and from being true to our passions. Self-awareness makes you realise that you are not born to be successful like Bill Gates, Beyonce, or Usain Bolt, you are meant to be successful as yourself. The moment you say, “I want to be like him/her” you have limited and failed yourself the best way you could have. Let us start being interested in our passions for the joy and fulfilment they bring us, the rest shall follow.