What does self awareness mean?
For way too many it is the Ark of the Covenant. The Crown Jewels. The Holy Grail. It is that unobtainable thing that they’re simply left to marvel over, but never possess.
What they might not realize is that it’s not a mythical concept. It’s something that everyone can have, and use as a tool to improve their mental health.
Just like with Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step to recovering from a negative mental health episode, is to admit you are unwell. If you cannot recognize when you’re unstable, the likelihood of getting effective, long-lasting treatment is relatively low.
That is why self-awareness is so important. When we’re depressed or manic, we need to take a daily emotional inventory of our feelings, and reflect on them.
Sometimes, we’re so inside our own heads that we can’t even see that we have a problem.
That’s why I was so glad that Christina agreed to write this post for me. I love her work on mental health and relationships, so I’m excited to share this with you.
Keep reading to find out how being a little more self aware can improve your relationships with those close to you.
Like my blog, and want to keep reading more great guest posts like this? Subscribe here to stay updated!
What’s self awareness?
There is a saying that goes something like this: “If you don’t love yourself, you can’t possibly love another.”
I am a firm believer in this quote! But how do we love ourselves?
Through the process of self awareness, we find out:
- what makes us behave the way we do
- why we choose to be with people who are not good for us
- what limiting beliefs we have that stop us from having what we want, need and deserve.
By getting to know ourselves, we cultivate self esteem, self love and self empowerment. As a result, we begin to believe we can achieve our deepest desires and dreams. In every situation.

We are always learning how to relate to others, so relationships are an area that basically covers our everyday life. How we relate to ourselves is the foundation of how we will relate to everyone else, professionally and personally. So self awareness is an extremely important journey that only the brave dare to explore!
It takes courage to look at yourself in the mirror, accept your shortcomings and decide to work on them. It’s not for everyone. If you are a person who is interested in self improvement, you are in the right place. My own journey of self discovery is what brought me to my profession of relationship coaching and I absolutely love it!
However, due to some hurdles along the way, it took me forever to finally take the action I needed to set up my coaching business. My greatest learning experiences and challenges have resulted from my relationships.
My romantic relationships were mostly toxic. Through self discovery, I learned how to honor myself and how to choose people who were good for me rather than bad. But I had to do a little soul searching before I could take the action.
I had to get to know myself. Create intimacy by spending time alone working on myself.
So how does this process of learning more about ourselves work?

How do you learn more yourself in relationship coaching?
- By discussing/talking and searching for your limiting beliefs.
- Working on removing those limiting beliefs.
- Finding out what is underneath your limitations. Is this really you? Who is the real you? Keep in mind this can be an ongoing journey of gaining self awareness! There is no destination.
- Finding out your needs and wants and how to get them. When you know your needs and wants, you honor yourself and am more authentic with yourself and others. This provides for more authentic and fulfilling relationships.
- When you focus on yourself, you get to find out what you really like doing, hobbies, careers, self care/self love practices. It’s answering questions such as: What does self love & self care mean to you? What does healthy fun look like for you?
- Believing that you can have the type of relationships you want that are easygoing, fun, loving, fulfilling, caring, healthy and stable.
- Finding out who you are outside your relationships.
- Knowing that you are enough!
- You learn to set boundaries.
Remember that the most important relationship you have is with yourself and it affects all other relationships. Through relationship coaching you can better understand yourself and learn skills and strategies that enable you to improve how you relate to yourself and others.
What strategies do you need to learn?
You also learn strategies and tools that help you deal with various difficult people in your life that you may not be able to avoid. Family members, for instance, are often where the most adversity lies for a lot of people.
Knowing our childhood wounds is a great place to start. Bringing repressed feelings to the surface so they may be released is a great way to heal yourself so that you don’t transfer insecurities onto your partner. This is something that happens to everyone. All of us have unresolved childhood wounds that we carry with us well into adulthood, not knowing that this is often the reason for unresolved arguments in romantic relationships.
The truth is that all of us are coming from some past wound that we haven’t dealt with. If everyone looked at themselves a little more, we would be able to have a little more peace for ourselves.
When you are able to look at your faults, you are able to change them. The first step is always awareness. We can work with awareness. The second step is acceptance. We must learn to accept ourselves as we are in the present moment. This is where limiting beliefs come in. A lot of what we believe about ourselves and others is really untrue. It can limit us more than we know. The third step is action. Without action nothing really happens. Everything remains just a dream in our minds.
Action is key! Especially in coaching, action is everything.

A recap on what you need to practice during your journey of self awareness
- Awareness
- Acceptance
- Action
I like to call them the three A’s! Each section can take time, but the amount of time spent on each depends highly on the person.
Only through self awareness can we have the capacity to change. When it comes to romantic relationships we must, if we want a long lasting, intimate, loving, caring and healthy relationship. If we want to be able to see ourselves and work together for the better of the relationship.
Emotional maturity is what comes to mind when I think of healthy relationships. The capacity to admit faults, forgive,and work at a common vision. Also, to not take things too personally, because another person’s behavior has really nothing to do with us and everything to do with them.

Learning effective communication is also a large part of healthy relationships, however, that takes a little practice. A lot of people come to me with communication issues and most sessions are devoted entirely on learning effective communication! But there’s enough content there to cover another whole article. For now, I’ll just give you some tips.
When you communicate in romantic relationships, make sure you begin every sentence with “I” and not “you.” You denotes blame and I is taking responsibility for yourself. When you talk about yourself there is no blame.
We can start each sentence by saying: “When you do this… I feel like this… Because I need to feel this…” So, you’re giving the other person information about yourself on how you like to be treated.
What does self awareness mean?
There is so much more material to cover when it comes to relationships, but I’ll leave you with just a few ideas to recap on. When it comes to improving the quality of your relationships, your communication and how you overall relate to others is the foundation of your work. Investing in personal growth by self discovery is the most authentic journey of all leading to better quality relationships.

I believe that life is about returning to your authentic self, where people and situations are put before you to learn and grow. If you don’t learn the lesson, it will persist, which is why we find ourselves in recurring patterns of the same situation with the same type of people.
If we want to attract change, we must be willing to try something we’ve never tried before.
Are you struggling with feeling self aware? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to share this post if you found it helpful!
It takes courage, strength, and a whole lot of support to find true self awareness.
By: Christina Kyranis CPC / Relationship Coach & Blogger
About the Author

I will always be interested in self improvement and growth, for without them my soul will spiritually die.
Mine is a journey of continually realizing my true self.
My purpose is to help you reach the truest version of yourself.
“Success in any endeavor depends on the degree to which it is an expression of your true self.” -Ralph Marston
Follow me at:
Thanks again for this outstanding post, Christina! Please make sure to follow her on the links above. You can subscribe to my blog, Diffusing the Tension, below.
Related posts for self awareness:
Limiting Beliefs: Why you should change the way you talk to your children
What Self Care Really Is and How It Can Totally Change Your Life
Very informative post, thanks for sharing! I agree that we need self-awareness eapecially in this trying times. Love reading your article!
Thanks! I appreciate it!
If this pandemic has taught us something it’s that taking care of yourself and dedicating time for you really matters. Thanks for the tips- must keep working on being nice to myself.
Definitely! You deserve it! Thanks for reading.
It is good to work on things like this to make our lives better and improve our relationships.
Definitely. Every little bit helps! Thanks for reading!
Following Christina now on IG. Appreciating her share and knowing how correcto she is. Look forward to reading more by her.
Same here! She has a lot of great insight! Thanks for reading.
This is super helpful advice. I’ve found that if I always pause before I react, I have time to figure out why I’m angry about something, and if it’s my problem.
Yes! I tend to react so quickly, and not pause, but that is a really helpful suggestion. Thanks for sharing, and reading 🙂
I totally agree with this blog post. Self-awareness is very important for personal development. I have a template that I use to self evaluate myself at work every 3 months. By doing this regularly, I reduce the level of work stress and anxiety. Amazing blog post.
That’s a great idea! I think every job should have that. Thanks for reading!
I have been wanting to start therapy for myself to work on things. I have been doing a lot of self reflecting especially in the last couple weeks.
Can’t hurt to try! I go regularly and it’s been so helpful. Take care, and thanks for reading!
More people need to be self aware. This is such a great article for right now.
Thanks so much! I appreciate it!
Another beautiful and informative article from you. This is something that most people ignore about and I agree with you that with regards to self-awareness, we need to accept, act and be aware of everything about ourselves.
Thanks so much for the kind words! Christina did an awesome job. I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment, as always. Take care!
I love this post! It is so integral to love yourself first to love others!
Absolutely. Thanks for reading 🙂
Self- awareness is essential. It’s so important to take a hard look in the mirror especially when it comes to issues with relationships.
Absolutely! Honesty with yourself is an important factor. Thanks for reading!
Great post about self-awareness. And communication is definitely vital in a relationship. We’re learning as we go.
That’s all you can do sometimes. Humans are ever changing, so we have to kinda learn as we go a lot of the time. Thanks for reading!
Needed this, all the time we have to listen to our emotions and I am working progress on developing mental strength.
Definitely! I’m a work in progress too. Hang in there, and take it a day at a time. Thanks for reading!
Another good read, I enjoyed the article. I learned something not just for myself but for the people around me.
Well that makes me feel good! I’m glad Christina and I were able to help with that. Thanks for reading as always 🙂
Fantastic post pet! It’s so helpful to me, especially today when I need to be sitting down and asking myself what’s happening, rather than avoiding it.
Thanks! I’ve been trying to stop avoiding my feelings, too. It’s not easy but it’s a helpful practice. Thanks for reading pal!
This is yet another brilliant post. My journey to self discovery made me realise that self-awareness is like taking a veil off your face and igniting with that special gift and talent you have. It is a process and as you learn more, you discover more about yourself.
That’s so great that it’s been helpful for you. 2020 is definitely the year I’m really committing to it myself. Take care, and thanks for reading!
I’ve noticed many people I know seem to keep themselves ridiculously busy. I think often this is because they’re uncomfortable with being alone, being with themself. It’s so important for us to spend time alone, in reflection.
Definitely! I love being alone with my thoughts at the end of a long day. Thanks for reading!
As a mama of three small kids, self-awareness tends to be at the bottom of my list! I love the little daily cheat sheet. I will definitely use that!
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it. I hope it’s a helpful tool for you. Thank you for reading!
Oh yes! I totally agree that a lot of time folks are inside their own heads and that is creating blockages. Blocking their blessings. We humans are in our own way… It’s ok to step aside. I agree we have to stop and recognize we have a problem. Self-awareness is so important for our health and well being.
Absolutely! I think the law of attraction is a very real thing. Thanks for reading!
This is an insightful article. This isn’t a topic I have thought much about before. Thanks for sharing!
No problem! Glad you found it useful. Thanks for reading!
I really enjoyed reading this. Great points you have here!
Thank you! I appreciate it!
Thank you for sharing the free PDS for helping with self-awareness. I am printing some off and sharing them with my teens tomorrow!
Awesome! That is so nice to hear. Let me know how it goes. Thanks for reading 🙂
What a great post that is needed specifically at a time like right now. Self awareness is a topic that I struggle to explain but you made it more clear!
Thanks, she did such a great job!
I am definitely not as self aware as I could be – it is something I am trying to work on, but I think ti is going to take me a while.
Hey, I think even being able to say, “I’m not self aware,” is a positive step. Some people are just oblivious entirely. Hang in there, and thanks for reading!
As a mom of 4 kids, I’ve found that making some time for me to be alone each day has helped immensely. I spend most of my time putting my husband and kids before me, but it’s important to take a little bit of time for myself each day.
Same here! I try to wake up before the kids most days and walk on the treadmill, and then try to get some time to myself after they go to bed. It really does help! Thanks for reading 🙂
YES! I always say that hte first step is recognition of a problem. ONLY then can you move forward with change!
Definitely, you can get all the therapy or whatever that you want, but if you’re not really committed to change, you probably won’t. Thanks for reading!
Yes, I try to always have self awareness. I think that’s important. As I’ve grown, I find I have more of it.
Same here! It seems to get easier as you age. Thanks for reading!
I really enjoyed reading this post. These tips are really helpful.
Thanks! I appreciate it 🙂
Awareness is the key! You are so right. A lot of time people are so busy telling themselves the same story of childhood wounds and traumas that they are never really able to come out of it! Your post is so helpful! Thank you ✨
Much appreciated! She did an amazing job! Thanks for reading, and I definitely agree with your response.
I’m also a firm believer that we must love ourselves before we can love everyone else. The daily worksheet is a good idea!
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it. She did an amazing job. Thanks for reading!
Great article – you can work on what you don’t know to work on! I’m a very big advocate for continually increasing your self-awareness! Great article!
Thanks! She did a great job. Much appreciated.
I love this so much. As I’ve gotten older, I have learned a lot more about myself and really gotten to know who I am as a person.
Same! In my mid 30s, I’ve really learned a lot about myself. Thanks for reading, and take care!
I’ve found that acceptance is the hardest part of self awareness. Great post, thanks for sharing.
Thanks! She did an amazing job! I appreciate you reading.
I love this post! You’re so right, looking in that mirror really does take courage. becoming more self-aware is so important for personal development. If we can understand more about ourselves we can become better people. xxx
I agree 100%. Thanks for reading, and leaving a comment 🙂
Amazing post! This is so important and helpful! I totally agree that you have to love yourself to love others!
Definitely! And thanks so much for the feedback. She did such a great job!