Self Consciousness - Is A Hurdle You Can Overcome On Your Road To Greater Self Respect

We all know what it is like to fall under the spell of self consciousness. It can lead to embarassment and being more conscious of ourselves and our actions than we would like. We should remember that we can all feel this from time to time.

To feel that we are the only person under scrutiny - that we are the centre of attention. That everybody is looking at us. We are very conscious of self - our self. And we don't like it. We would like the focus of other people's attention to move away from us. We can be conscious of our own embarassment at this unwanted attention.

And things go wrong . . .

We are in the middle of doing something and one thing after another seems to be happening. And things seem to be getting out of control. And they all seem to have a mind of their own. And we seem to be caught up in the middle of it all. Our self consciousness is coming to the fore.

We are trying to be cool. Trying to shrug things off - was it really me? But we are having difficulties. We are being self conscious - and everyone seems to be aware.

A little off key?

We have all done things in the past that were just a little off key. But did they really matter. Did other people think the worse of us for so doing? Are we not all trying in life to do the right thing to get through life in the best way possible.

And when we try we don't always succeed. Try, try and try again is the oft said motto. Yet it does work. It does help to learn something from the previous tries though, does it not?

A case of survival?

We are all trying to survive in life. We are all trying to thrive in life. We are all trying to get there, though at times we don't know where the 'there' is. So we are all in the same boat really. Some are paddling, others are rowing, others are using an engine. Some have radar, some have sat nav. Others have ancient maps. And others have advice and suggestion. Yet others seem to be doing things on their own - but getting by.

The embarassment

It can be the embarassment that gets to you. You are so much thinking about what other people might think that you lose track. Your self consciousness can seem to take over.

The duck and the swan story . . .

We should remember the duck and the swan. How growing up the swan, and being surrounded by ducks, tried to be a duck. Then, getting older and finding other swans, it realized that it was really a swan, and could be proud and grateful to just be what nature intended.

And us?

Growing up thinking you should be something, and yet you are really something else. Recognizing that you are fine as you are. Understanding that you are a special human being in your own right. You have a place in life and a special one at that. Your place.

Why are we trying to be something else when we can grow to be the real us? Are we trying to prove something? If so what?

We can grow, we can develop, we can warm to our task. Of being us. We can feel proud. Proud of being us. There is no one around like us. There is no one quite like us. For that we should feel proud. We should feel glad.