4 ways to Develop a Strong Sense of Self
Photo via Unsplash by Clay Banks
As I hit 27th Birthday, I started reflecting on who I am as a woman - my values, beliefs, and goals. My sense of sense in the past has somewhat been dependent on what I others think of me, up until now.
Our sense of refers to the perception we have of ourselves, the identity we carry around all day - when we have a strong sense of self we are able to differentiate who we are from others. For some of us, building our sense of self was not nurtured when growing up. When you aren’t given the space to develop your sense of self, you develop a weaker sense of sense.
When you have poor sense of self you may tend to:
Have difficulty setting healthy and strong boundaries.
Your priorities may be all over the place.
Unsure of what you want to do in life.
Lose yourself of sense in romantic relationship.
Codependent tendencies.
Enmeshment with parents .
Prone to being peer pressured - feeling pressured to do things you don’t want to do.
Low self-esteem.
Social Anxiety.
Being taken advantage by others.
Living people’s dreams instead of yours.
Feeling disconnected to what you truly need, desire and dream of.
Feeling empty.
Take a minute to ground yourself - especially if you resonated with anything on the list.
4 way to develop your sense of self
Reflect on your strengths
Spend some time reflecting on what your strengths are. This may include taking stock of your achievements and accomplishments.
Reflect on what brings you joy
Feelings come and go, but there are some things in life that lights us up. Perhaps it quality time with loved ones or spending time with yourself.
What are your values?
Values are fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate your attitude and actions. They help us to decided what type of person we want to be, the way we treat ourselves and others and how we interact with the world. Having your own set of values provides you with clarity in terms of what you may want in personal relationships.
Spending time getting to know yourself - #solodates
Getting to know yourself is also key to developing your sense of self. This can take form in may different formats like taking yourself out for a date or spending some time doing shadow work or inner child work.