Do other people see us for who we really are? Do we know what they think of us? Last week we asked, “Who are you, really?” This might make us think there is only one “me.” In reality, however, we all have multiple social identities, depending on whom we interact with. We have our work self, our family self, and our weekend-with-friends self. Thus everyone who knows us only knows a part of us. In the worst case, they don’t know us at all.
Knowing how others see us allows us to compare it to how we see ourselves, and thus helps us to improve self-awareness. The first step in the process of cultivating “external” self-awareness is to think about how others see us. The second step is to ask others and compare it to what we noted. Happy journaling!
