Self-Awareness: How Do People See You

Have you ever thought there was nothing wrong with what you were wearing until someone told you? Do you think people see you the way you see yourself? A part of being self-awareness is knowing how you appear to people. In all aspects of your life, you should understand how you affect other people.

Observing Ourselves Through People

Many of us have been on the receiving and observing end of food stuck in between teeth. We could go a whole day with food in our teeth without knowing until we look into the mirror. Then we start to think back and wonder how many people noticed and what impression did we leave. Also, we wish someone would have said something, but understand people are not always comfortable telling us how we appear. So, it is important to check ourselves and observe how we appear to people.

Being unaware is just as harmful as being misinformed. We think we know how we appear to others and don’t realize how we appear to others. Sometimes we have people around us encouraging the wrong behavior. It is not until we get around other groups we start to notice what is wrong. It is important to watch the people we are around because they can reflex the image we are giving. Pay attention to what they do, and see if you do the same.

Understand People’s Point of View

Sometimes in our head, we have an idea and want to recreate it for other people to see, but our attempt to recreate an idea sometimes doesn’t go as planned. It is fine when we can see something is wrong. Sometimes we bring an idea to life, then think people will see what we are seeing. Other factors contribute to the misinterpretation of our ideas and image.

The way we imagine ourselves is sometimes not the way we appear because of how people interpret what they see. We have to understand where people’s impression of us comes from and how to use it to our advantage. Social conditioning and their own experiences add to the complexity of how people view us. What may seem normal to you may come off weird to someone else.

To help control misinterpretations of ourselves, we must understand people. To become better at expressing what your behavior says, look at things from their perspective. Cultural difference plays a role in how people understand us. In some cultures, certain behaviors are acceptable, while in other cultures, the same behavior is unacceptable.

Sometimes people’s expectations and biases come into play on how people see us. What people are expecting out of us may not match what they get. Our actions may reflex negatively on us just because of their bias.