Can You Be Too Self-Aware?
Self-awareness seems like a good thing because it allows you to know yourself, understand your motivations, and ultimately make better decisions. But it can also lead us to second guess ourselves and spin out into an excruciating state of self-consciousness, micro-analyzing every nuance of our thoughts and actions. Let’s take a closer look at the two components of self-awareness and see how they work.
Internal Self-Awareness
Internal or private self-awareness is a metacognitive process in which we take an observer’s perspective of our own thoughts. Internal self-awareness occurs when people become aware of some aspects of themselves, but only in a private way. For example, seeing your face in the mirror at home is a type of private self-awareness. Noticing that you can’t stop thinking a certain thought. Feeling your stomach drop when you realize you left your phone at a restaurant or feeling your heart skip a beat when you see someone you are attracted to are examples of internal self-awareness.
External Self-Awareness
External or public self-awareness emerges when we become aware of how we appear to others. We take the perspective of a public observer. That is, we’re aware that others can see us — and we may start to speculate on what we think they are seeing. External self-awareness often…
