As of late, I’ve been seeing quite a few posts in my social feed regarding self-awareness and what all it encompasses. To be honest, I’m probably recognizing an uptick in self-awareness in my social feeds because I engaged with one post and now all of the algorithms are pushing it, and that’s the joy of social media trends.
Anyways, self-awareness, for anyone unfamiliar with the concept, is, in my own words, the ability to be attentive to how our thoughts, behaviours, actions, beliefs, opinions, spirituality, you name it, affect other people around us in our lives. Basically, it’s owning your shit; if you’re self-aware, you are able to gauge how you are influencing those around you.
I consider self-awareness to be an important trait, or characteristic, whatever you wish to call it, to possess. I suppose, in a sense, lacking self-awareness is being ignorant; if you’re unable to pay attention to how you as a person affect and impact other people when they’re around you, you’re probably not seen as an overly courteous or kind person.
Nowadays, more than ever, possessing self-awareness has never been more relevant, and I think being self-aware online is one of the best ways to demonstrate the trait. Waaaaaay too many people are far too comfortable sharing information on social media that likely would have been best kept to themselves, and in doing so, we become so out of touch with interconnectedness we don’t even realize that we lack self-awareness.
Some folks confuse self-awareness with people-pleasing, but the two are very different concepts. To be self-aware is to be mindful of how you as a person impact others. To be a people-pleaser is to live your life in accordance with others and what best suits them with no regard for yourself. I like to think self-awareness is hanging in the balance between the two, and in the middle is often the best spot to be.
ontheedgeofeverything 
