Self-awareness is our ability to be conscious of ourselves, to identify our personality and preferences, and to understand our thoughts and emotions. Recognizing these things impact your behavior and the habits that mold your character. Self-awareness helps us become more grounded and confident in who we truly are.

When you are self-aware, you can work on managing your emotions in a way that is healthy for both you and your child. Parenting is hard enough without having to deal with our own emotional baggage, too, right?

Here are several positive outcomes of developing self-awareness as a parent:

Having a growth mindset

Self-awareness helps us understand our strengths, and also our weaknesses. If you use this knowledge to create change in your life, you are already doing the beautiful work of acknowledging that you are not perfect and that there is always room for growth.

You can model this awareness for your child by setting a goal to learn something new or outside of your comfort zone, or by simply talking about something about yourself you’d like to improve.

Gaining self-confidence

When you are attuned to your emotions–both when you are feeling triumphant and defeated–it helps you to know how to respond when similar situations arise. Self-awareness empowers you to be more confident when facing new challenges because you know what it’s like to go through them, to overcome them or to thrive in them.

This belief in yourself fosters your children’s belief in themselves, as opposed to when your confidence is low and is dependent on whether the situation is easy and familiar.

Practicing optimism

Oftentimes, our impulse to avoid a difficult challenge only comes from the fear of experiencing frustration and dealing with conflict. So, we end up expecting the worst because we haven’t allowed ourselves to go through life’s challenges, deal with the emotions that come with them, and eventually rise above them.

We can only enjoy and share a lasting sense of optimism that radiates towards our families and communities when we develop self-awareness.

What are different ways to develop self-awareness?

Here are some things you can start practicing today to foster your own self-awareness and build confidence, optimism and a growth mindset:

• Identifying your values
• Being honest and acknowledging your feelings
• Listening to your body’s cues
• Identifying your triggers
• Staying attuned to your needs
• Self-reflection and journaling
• Yoga and meditation
• Seeing a therapist

At the end of the day, getting the most out of life truly depends on how much we accept and work with our spectacular range of emotions. Children learn how to go through life with confidence, resilience and grace when we constantly model self-awareness.

Remember, it is never too late to learn and become the best possible version of yourself. With a little effort on your self-awareness, you can be the ____ your child needs and set an example for them to follow.