Self-Awareness and Personal Growth

Hey there, Goal Sisters! Today, I want to chat about a topic that has the potential to transform your life: self-awareness and personal growth. I have found that becoming more self-aware is like unlocking a superpower that can help you grow and thrive in ways you never imagined. It also is very, HARD. You have to accept responsibility for your role in a situation, and that level of self-awareness is no fun. But, it does give you clarity afterward, and that develops your personal growth.

How self-awareness can support your personal growth journey

What exactly is self-awareness? It’s all about knowing yourself inside and out – your strengths, weaknesses, values, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. View my blog post on core values here! When you’re self-aware, you have a deep understanding of who you are and why you do the things you do. Being self-aware really helps me with my boundaries! It also helps me when I am struggling, because I can recognize the signs pretty quickly.

Being self-aware has helped me make better decisions in my motherhood, relationships, and friendships, and even has given me clarity on my own goal setting.

Becoming self-aware helps you identify areas for improvement and change. When you’re aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you can focus your energy on building on your strengths and addressing your weaknesses.

Self-awareness also enhances your emotional intelligence, which is crucial for building healthy relationships and navigating life’s ups and downs. When you understand your own emotions and how they influence your thoughts and actions, you’re better able to manage stress, communicate effectively, and empathize with others. Your hormones can also affect your emotions, and as I paid more attention to how I was reacting all the time, I decided my emotional state did not reflect the mother I wanted to be, and I made an appointment with my doctor and got my blood work done. That was a huge game changer in my life because my hormone levels were so off. Being self-aware helped me focus on that weakness in myself, and help regulate how I felt in my own body.

Here are a few tips to get you started to become more self-aware:

1. Practice mindfulness: Take some time each day to quiet your mind, tune into your thoughts and feelings, and observe them without judgment. Mindfulness practices like meditation, deep breathing, or journaling can help you develop greater self-awareness over time. I like to do deep thinking in the mornings when it is quiet and I am alone, and I can journal freely without interruptions.
2. Reflect on your experiences: Regularly reflect on your experiences, both positive and negative. What did you learn from them? How did they make you feel? What can you do differently next time? Reflective practices like journaling or talking things out with a trusted friend or mentor can help you gain valuable insights into yourself.
3. Seek feedback: Ask for feedback from others – friends, family, colleagues – about your strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots. Sometimes, others can see things about us that we can’t see ourselves. Just be open to constructive criticism and use it as an opportunity for growth.
4. Keep a gratitude journal: Cultivate an attitude of gratitude by keeping a journal where you write down things you’re grateful for each day. But focus on the last 24 hours!! This helps your brain focus every day on small things to be grateful for because you know you have to reflect on them tomorrow.
5. Use personality assessments: The enneagram has been a great tool in my own personal development because it helps me understand how I am motivated, and also how the people closest to me are motivated. Knowing our stress factors and motivators has been a huge tool in understanding and loving the people in my life. You can take an enneagram test for free online!

My very real morning routine supports my personal growth in 1% action steps!!

Resources for women to help you on your journey to self-awareness

• “The Gifts of Imperfection” by Brené Brown: This book explores the power of embracing vulnerability and imperfection on the path to self-awareness and personal growth. (This came recommended online, I have not read it yet!)
• The Insight Timer app: This app offers a wide range of guided meditations and mindfulness practices to help you develop greater self-awareness and mindfulness in your daily life.
• Therapy or coaching: Working with a therapist or coach can provide you with personalized support and guidance as you explore your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and work towards becoming more self-aware. Therapy has personally helped me so much!
• This question changed everything about how I view self-awareness: “What did I do to allow this outcome to happen in this situation.” WHEW. It took me an hour of working backwards from the problem I was in to the very beginning of the situation, but I was able to pinpoint where I allowed things to happen. And that was HUGE for me. Because now that I know those things, I am less likely to repeat them!! And that is what becoming self-aware is all about!

Remember, all things personal growth are a journey, not a destination, self-awarness is the same, so be patient with yourself and enjoy the ride!

Wishing you grace in all things goal and growth friend!

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You might like this blog post on Mindset Roadblocks for Women.