Know Thyself

In essence, to know oneself is to be aware of and able to evaluate in an objective manner one’s own thoughts and actions. Living within society, we are exposed to countless individuals in countless different settings. We often judge others based on the decisions we observe them to make and the actions we observe them to carry out. Within this society, the one person which we are not able to observe directly is oneself. We can easily identify the faults of another person’s morality, decision-making ability, intelligence, friendliness, or any other outwardly visible characteristic. However, because we cannot observe our own actions directly, our own faults can easily be ignored, overlooked, or altogether unknown by us. As a result, when a person does evaluate himself, he often does so idealistically, without acknowledging many of his own character weaknesses. In order to truly know oneself, one must attempt to self-evaluate objectively, without biasing the evaluation or overlooking personal faults.
The value of self-knowledge comes is that it gives each person opportunities for self-improvement. Again, the fact that people do not have the ability to observe themselves from “a different set of eyes” can give them an idealized self-view. When a human is criticized, his first reaction is rarely to consider the validity of the criticism, but to snap back at the critic and ridicule him for his offensiveness. Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for a person to practice self-improvement because he would be unaware of his faults. However, to know oneself by objectively considering one’s own thoughts and actions would give the person a clearer idea of his own strengths and weaknesses. As a result, he would be able to attempt to act upon his personal shortcomings and attain a more optimal persona.
Although it may seem a strange choice for a shortcoming, I believe that one of my most prominent personal weaknesses is my tendency to be a perfectionist. When doing homework or studying for a test, I will often be comfortable with the material and confident that I will receive a good grade. However, out of an unnecessary level of concern, I often spend hours more than I need to in order to achieve such a high level of success, detracting from time I could have spent socially or with my family. My perfectionism can be demonstrated in social settings as well. I have caught myself multiple times leading my friends into conversations on topics that make me seem “better” than them, be it grades, college choices, range of acquaintances, etc. When I hear an impressive fact regarding a friends’ accomplishment, I will feel proud of my friend, but I also often feel that I need to improve my own abilities in order to “catch up” with my friends’ successes. Recently, I have tried to be a more relaxed person, spending more appropriate amounts of time on tasks and being less concerned with my own pride than with genuine social pleasure. However, people are inclined to overlook personal weaknesses out of inability to identify them. The process of getting to know one’s own shortcomings and fixing them can be difficult, a truth which I have experienced while attempting to amend my own weaknesses.
My strongest personal quality is most likely my intelligence. I take pride in my intellect and I am glad that it is available to me as a resource in all aspects of my life. Although intelligence is often related only to only scholarly pursuits, I feel that my own intelligence applies to all aspects of my life. Certainly, in school, my thinking ability aids me as I attempt to achieve academic success. However, the ability to think well is also essential to a successful social life. One’s thoughts dictate one’s actions, and, ultimately, one’s actions are used to judge a person in society. The more one can control one’s own thoughts, the more his actions will be respected by others. I feel that my intelligence gives me a greater ability to dictate my behavior and make decisions which will win my society’s appreciation. In addition, my strength of mind allows me to evaluate social situations more clearly, giving me the capability to decide whether it is in my best interest to associate myself with a certain group of peers. Therefore, without my strong intelligence, I feel that I would be a completely different person, both academically and socially.
Considering one’s own personal strengths and weaknesses can be difficult because it implies the acknowledgement of potentially unsettling truths. While the human mind naturally attempts to avoid thoughts which are uncomfortable or personally “threatening,” knowing oneself makes such thoughts necessary. Acknowledgement of one’s own weaknesses implies not only imperfection, but wastefulness. A person can make the excuse that a certain element of his character is undesirable because he was unaware of it, but recognizing shortcomings on one’s own implies that the person was aware of it – that he has had the opportunity to change himself for the better, but has ignored his faults. Similarly, acknowledgement of one’s strengths can give a person a feeling of wastefulness. Although personal strengths define us as people, people are oftentimes discontent with their strongest personality traits. For example, “bookworms” may be incredibly intelligent and diligent, but may wish to have stronger social lives. Recognizing and admitting their strengths may make them just as uncomfortable with themselves as admitting their weaknesses. Personally, I am proud of my strength of intelligence. However, the fact that I have been able to acknowledge my perfectionism without ever taking effective action to combat it makes me feel, to an extent, that I have wasted opportunities to improve myself. Hopefully, even just writing this blog entry will give me the motivation I need to change my character for the better.