Self-awareness is touted by self-help gurus like Gary Vaynerchuk as one of the MOST IMPORTANT traits to have for success.
Why does journaling increase self-awareness?
Like I said before — letting thoughts run through our mind is one thing, but recording them is like stepping in wet concrete.
The outline of our foot is now there forever.
After one month of journaling, I stopped getting angry at people. After three months of journaling, I knew traveling/adventure was what brought me the most joy. After 8 months of journaling, I realized that maybe writing is what I should do for the rest of my life.
A lot of people get beaten down by their thoughts. Me? I have a full-blown recorded conversation with them. I spar. I find weaknesses — flaws. I find opportunities.
Every time I step in the ring with my mind I get hurt, but I find out that much more about myself by the time I’m done.
Competing in a boxing match will always hurt, but there’s also always a winner.
After I got into the habit of daily journaling, I started winning for a change.
I realized I’m actually an ultra-sensitive dude and that maybe I should use that instead of shy away from it like “strong male” stereotypes are “supposed” to do.
I realized I’m too loyal. I realized I’m stubborn, and prideful, and a stupid young person. I realized I said shit two months ago that I disagreed with later, and that caused me to humble myself big time.
It also helped me realize that what we believe now isn’t always what we’re going to believe tomorrow.
Feelings are like the seasons — they come and go. People come and go. Family normally always stays.
I started getting slapped in the face by life itself. I started getting challenged. I started realizing that I don’t have it all together and I realized that you just can’t BE somebody else — you have to be yourself and accept that you just aren’t like that guy or girl you admire.
I realized all these things — some of the hardest truths about life — alone in a quiet room with nothing but a pen and a journal.
Everybody wants to better themselves. They make grand plans to do so and it almost always falls apart.
I promise you the quickest way to bettering yourself is to write.
If you want to speed that up, try writing online.
Here you aren’t just sparring with your mind, you’re sparring with other people’s minds in the comments and they aren’t afraid to tell you you’re dead wrong.
In fact, a lot of people quite enjoy it.
So here’s to writing — the thing that’s made me who I am, and the thing that’ll make me who I’ll be tomorrow.
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This article was originally posted at https://medium.com/the-mission/how-to-become-more-self-aware-in-under-20-minutes-968268c53ffd
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