Self-Consciousness vs Self-Awareness.

Self-consciousness vs self-awareness. The first is highly self-destructive and the latter can be very beneficial. You might be wondering what the difference is.

Let’s start with self-awareness. Self-awareness is the sense that we have about ourselves. It’s knowing who we are, what we have a knack for and what we have difficulty with. It’s knowing about our personalities, likes, dislikes, and what our triggers and pet peeves are. This knowing is just that…a knowing, an awareness.

Awareness is knowing without the emotional response. It’s the mental observer.

Self-consciousness on the other hand, comes from self-awareness going into overdrive. Remember that self-awareness is an observer without the emotion. When it tips over into self-consciousness or self-doubt, the emotions become involved. You become so aware of what you perceive to be a shortcoming that you develop feelings of shame, anxiety, inadequacy, fear, etc. When this happens, you have a very hard time separating the emotions from the observer. It becomes very difficult to neutrally observe.

Self-consciousness can turn into the killer of dreams.  (Photo Credit: 123RF.com Image ID: 16254235 Copyright:
ostill)

Self-consciousness is loaded with emotion.

To give you an example…as an artist, I know that I’m good at drawing animal portraits. I also know that I’m not so good at drawing people. Self-aware. I dread drawing people and do all that I can not to draw humans because I know it won’t come out nearly as well as my animals do and what if people see it? Self-conscious.

I know that I understand about half of what I hear in Spanish and that I’m not very good at speaking it. Self-aware. I refuse to try to speak it because what if I mess up and say something wrong or embarrassing? Self-conscious.

I am certainly not immune.

When it comes to art, my self-consciousness hold me back from an enormous area of creativity. Basically anything involving people. It also holds me back from becoming fluent in Spanish and everything that living a bilingual life could offer.

For some people who know they can’t draw very well still do it anyway because it still brings them joy. Self-aware. Others who wish they could draw, and won’t even dabble at it in secret deny themselves the pleasure of creating. Self-conscious.

Understand the difference?

Self-awareness is a good thing. But don’t become so caught up in it that you become so self-conscious that you hold back from trying new things with your art (or anything else).