How Self-aware are you?
Ashton Muller
BBA-B
Most colleges do not offer the opportunity to learn life skills. However, at Kristu Jayanti College during the first week, we freshman underwent training in life skills. We learnt a total of ten life skills which included self-awareness, empathy, creative thinking, critical thinking, problem solving, Decision making, coping with emotions and with stress, effective communication and interpersonal skills.
Although each life skill is different from the other, they are all equally important as they all help us to lead a healthy and positive life. The teaching of life skills was a huge icebreaker for everyone as it helped us to get to know our peers as well as our teachers. Life skills training involved a great deal of interaction which helped us to know our peers better by interacting with them through the various group activities.
Walking into class the first day and hearing that you have life skills makes you question- why you would need such a thing? Because as teenagers we feel like adults due to the fact that we are eighteen, but little do we know how much we need these life skills to cope in the real world.
Until now we have been in school or PU colleges which are a much protected environment with little exposure to the true nature of the world. Life skills teach us how to adequately deal with our own professional and social world.
As said earlier all the life skills complement one another and all of them need to be brought together in unity. However if you ask me I would say that self-awareness is the most important life skill of the lot. It even comes first in the order or hierarchy of the life skills. Self-awareness is basically being aware of the environment you are in, but it is mostly about knowing oneself. What kind of a person are you? What are your strengths, weaknesses, talents? What do you aspire to be? You have to ask yourself all these questions in order to figure yourself out. Because life has many different aspects, but the truth is it is all about perspective. Life has many ups and downs, but conquering them is all a matter of looking for a different angle. For instance when you see a glass filled with water but only half way; is the glass half-empty or half full? It is a matter of perspective. A professor teaching life skills said a problem is nothing more than an opportunity, if you are willing to look at it with a positive mind.
A lot has been said about self-awareness, but only you can figure out who you are and figuring yourself out matter a lot because there are things only you can do. Take a good look at all the life skills. Each one involves self-awareness because none of them can exist without it.
I know it can be hard to figure yourself out believe me I know, and if I am being honest l still don’t know myself all that well but that is what college is about. There are some things you can discover yourself, but there are some aspects of yourself hiding in plain sight, oblivious to you but not to your friends and this is where knowing the environment you are in comes in; know your surroundings and make sure you are in good company.
Life skills helped me a lot and I hope it helped you too. I would like to say never doubt yourself because your outlook of the world and your perspective matters the most. So get yourself some self-esteem, hold your head high and power through the year ahead with a smile on your face and a ‘can do’ attitude.