Growing up can be hard. With how much is thrown at everyone on a daily basis, it’s easy to see how hard it can be just to say that we know who we are as people. The complexity of our emotions tends to get in the way of our certainty. This is where self-awareness and emotional intelligence can come in handy.
However, these are not just simple concepts to learn and read about. Humans, by nature, are complex. What we may think we know today may be entirely different tomorrow.
Not all hope is lost, though. We do have a baseline of what makes us who we are, and how we can learn to improve themselves, not just in accomplishing our goals, but perhaps even changing our outlooks and lives.
What is Self-Awareness?
Self-awareness is more than just knowing we exist individually. It’s far deeper than that. Simply put, self-awareness is being aware of yourself, your actions, even your emotions, and how they affect your environment. It’s a form of self-discovery.
This has the ability to impact our lives in ways that we may not have recognized before. Our emotions can color how we view different situations at different moments.
A lack of self-awareness can place us on an emotional rollercoaster without any explanation why. Something that may not bother us on a normal day may be the thing that pushes us over the edge on what would be a “bad” day, and for whatever reason, we can’t seem to understand how or why it can help or hinder what we do.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is similar to self-awareness, but is expanded out to others around us. This is the ability to recognize our own emotions, why we are feeling the way we do, how to manage them appropriately, and to also recognize the emotions of others and why they are feeling the way they do.
Emotional intelligence can sometimes receive criticism by people who feel that it’s not worth developing, or even measuring.
How Do We Develop Self-Awareness?
This skill does require us getting out of our comfort zones. Here are some ways to reflect on ourselves to develop self-awareness:
• Record What is Being Felt
One of the biggest excuses used toward self-improvement is “Out of sight, out of mind”. When our emotions are written down in some way, we can see what is affecting our emotional state and how it’s affecting things and people around us, including our bodies.
• List Relationships
Our relationships can affect our emotional state more than we may want to admit. Working on our self-awareness might require that we take stock of whom we interact with on a regular basis. Are we a friend? A parent? A child? A student? A teacher? These and our other relationships can alter how we perceive ourselves and others.
• Role Play
Certain situations can trigger certain reactions. One of the best ways we can begin to recognize how our emotions might get the better of us is to come up with certain scenarios that bring out certain emotions. Doing this by ourselves can help us name and accept the emotions we have during these moments and can help us gain control of them.
Developing self-awareness is a constant effort. While we may have days when we feel we’re doing really well, there will be others where it’s considerably harder. It’s important that we are patient with ourselves as we develop these skills.
How Does Self-Awareness Work With Emotional Intelligence?
There is a philosophical principle that suggests the more we understand ourselves as individuals, the better we can understand others around us.
Self-improvement through self-awareness can provide us with the ability to see others the way they are meant to be seen – as people with inherent value. A fascinating side effect of increasing our self-awareness is an increase in self-esteem, and the ability to lift the self-esteem of others around us.
This skill also makes it easy to understand, and have more patience for, those who may not yet have high emotional intelligence themselves.
Building Girl’s Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence
At Life Quest Girls Academy, we help the girls that walk through our doors develop the skills they need for increased self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Our programs are designed to help them see their value, improve their outlook on life, and give them the desire to improve their lives academically and succeed beyond school.
If you want to know how Life Quest can help your struggling daughter, contact us today for more information.