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It’s funny how close being self-conscious is to being self-aware. Actually, aren’t they the same? One is conscious of self, one is aware of self. Same. But that really isn’t the case. Self-consciousness isn’t really about being aware of self, it’s about being aware of what other’s think of your self. You are conscious of other interpretations of your self (even if they haven’t ever been thought or spoken by another human).
Having raised 4 girls I can testify to the destructive power of self-consciousness. The concerns of what others thought of them was, at times, paralyzing. Would they think I am fat, flat, false, fearful, fatuous, farty, flamboyant, flakey, fanatical, frigid, freaky, flippant, foreign, figidity, fortunate, or maybe fake?
Self-awareness, on the other hand, is not about what others think, it’s about what YOU think about your self. Being self-aware means you KNOW others will have different opinions about you (when they think about you at all that is). But you also know that it’s YOU who ultimately judges whether your self is the self you want or not.
And in the end, the 60 year old has it right, most people are too busy thinking about themselves and worrying about what others think of them to actually think much about you.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Anonymous