13 Signs You’re More Self-Aware Than You Think

1. You’re very honest with what you love, what you hate, and everything else in between.

You have strong opinions on certain things and aren’t afraid to share them (with tact and only when it’s appropriate, of course). You don’t pretend to have strong opinions on things you generally have a neutral stance on. You also don’t try to force yourself to love something you hate or hate something you love.

2. Even when you don’t have your entire life mapped out, you have a vision for the future and you’re working toward it.

This doesn’t mean you’re always on the right track, but you can recognize where you’re going wrong and sense the proximity of dead ends. You take the time to learn from your experiences so that you can better understand how to navigate through life with more foresight and ingenuity.

3. You’re rarely ever provoked to anger and usually react in a calm, sensible manner.

You stop and think before you react, since you understand that irrational explosions won’t solve anything and will only make the situation more problematic and chaotic than it needs to be.

4. You don’t rely on or hope for external circumstances to change before you do.

You’re always the one who changes first. Your attitude is proactive and you’re willing to evaluate yourself honestly and make an effort to stop complaining about things you ultimately have no control over.

5. You tend to overanalyze the way you come across to other people, from every single angle possible.

You don’t want to talk too much or too little. You think about what you want to say and carefully phrase it in a way that benefits you and the people you’re speaking to. You want to be considerate of other people’s time. You’re polite and aren’t too keen on burning bridges or saying things out of impulse. You know when to stop yourself before getting too vulnerable. You also use your overly self-conscious tendencies for good and make sure you’re well-groomed and presentable. You understand the power of presenting yourself in a manner that is neither fake nor inconsiderate.

6. You don’t numb your emotions or try to escape from them.

You understand that you can’t rely on rational reasoning alone. You know how important feelings are and you have a way to express them through therapeutic activities like journaling, conversing with someone you care for, and art. You are deeply attuned to your emotions. You’re known for being highly sensitive and honest with the way you express how you feel, but you also know that your emotions aren’t always reliable, especially when you’re trying to make critical decisions that could affect you for the rest of your life.

7. You have a deep understanding of your own thought processes and how you best absorb information.

You know how you learn best, what kinds of sources you keep returning to when acquiring information, how to detect biases, and where your own perspectives of certain ideas originate from. You don’t readily accept popular opinions as truths because you’d rather seek unbiased sources of information before you come to any conclusions. You use this knowledge to clarify the way you think so that you can improve certain areas of your life.

8. You’re aware of the things you don’t know.

You never pretend to know a great deal about things you don’t understand. You don’t assume that your perspective is always right. You also know how foolish it is to present your own opinions and judgments as facts.

9. You don’t expect life to give you special privileges.

You acknowledge that fulfillment isn’t about making the world see you as more significant or nobler than everyone else, and that there are many constraints and barriers that can hinder you, but you work with what you have instead of complaining about how unfair life is. You don’t expect to be given more than what you put in.

10. You don’t get defensive when people criticize you.

You understand that while people’s opinions of you don’t define who you are, you take the time to listen and consider that you might have a few unresolved issues that only you can take the time to find solutions for. You know that reacting in a defensive manner is a warning sign of insecurity.

11. You know how valuable it is to learn from your failures.

You take failure as a learning opportunity to further your personal development and gain valuable insights about life, which shatter all preconceived notions about life that you were socially conditioned to regard as truths.

12. You don’t pursue anything you’re innately terrible at, even when you feel pressured to succeed at it.

You don’t bother wasting your time trying to improve on a skill that’s nonexistent within you, since you ultimately know you could be building upon something that you have most potential for.

13. You’ve given up on many dreams and have only grown wiser from doing so.

This reveals how you’ve become unattached to the grand and lofty dreams of your youth, and you’re willing to let go of all the fantasies that you cannot possibly turn into reality. Your current priorities in life are grounded by purpose, security, and contentment.