The importance of having strong sense of self

What is a sense of self

Your sense of self refers to your perception of the collection of characteristics that define you. It refers to what you think are your personality traits, strength and weaknesses, like or dislikes, moral values and your goals and aspirations…

Why is it important?

Self-confidence

Having a strong sense of self allows you to appreciate both your strengths and weaknesses. It allows you to be at peace and comfortable in your own skin and not too affected by people’s opinions. Otherwise, you will be pushed around and feel bad about things about yourself that you shouldn’t

Motivation and making decisions

Knowing your likes and dislikes from small things like the choice of food to bigger things like the kind of career or life partners you want will allow you to make decisions quickly and confidently. You won’t have to spend time agonising and taking forever to decide or worse, simply choosing jobs or settling for relationships because that’s what your parents or other people choose for you.

And of course, if you have a strong enough “why”, you can go through any “how” to achieve your dream goals and career outcomes.

Relationships

Besides that, your sense of self allows you to be confident in choosing the right friends and partners, but also allows you to communicate and manage relationships better. You won’t have to deal with crippling anxiety when trying to speak up your mind at your jobs. You can become a better leader in the workplace. You can tell your friends or partners clearly what you like or dislike to keep a healthy boundary.

How to build self-identity?

To build a strong sense of self, from young kids to adults, we need time to experience and explore, to fail and learn about what we like, dislike and our strengths and weaknesses. Having the right theory of mind based on rigorous frameworks will also help to allow you to build a more accurate picture of yourself faster.