We’ve all heard the stories of how life can be a roller coaster ride, even for those that are used to it. But, a recent study from the University of Maryland suggests that our feelings of anxiety and depression can be caused by our level of self-awareness. The study, which surveyed 1,000 adults, found that those who feel more self-aware tend to have a higher level of anxiety and depression.
I guess this is good news. It could be that we don’t have to go to the doctors to be medicated for our anxiety and depression, and we don’t have to worry about losing our life savings to the lottery. I’m sure we can look forward to a happy future where we have a choice to focus on our own happiness.
On the other hand, those who feel more self-aware tend to be more likely to engage in risky behaviors like drinking and smoking, which could lead to greater mental health problems and depression later in life.
We are happy to report that many of us have been working towards healthier lifestyles and are making positive changes. Our self-awareness is not as much of a problem as you might think. Many of us don’t just let what we think or believe define us. We are aware of our past behaviors and, if we are honest, we are aware of our self-image issues and the way we often choose to think about ourselves.
We all have our habits and routines. But we are also aware of the ways in which we choose to think about ourselves. The trick is to recognize these habitual behaviors and then let them go or at the very least be aware of when they are causing us to do something harmful. But that takes some self-awareness and you have to be willing to admit to your own behavior.
I’m not going to lie. I can be a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to my own behaviors. But as a social worker, I have to acknowledge that my work sometimes involves taking the perspective of people who might not be very “aware” of their own behaviors. I have done a lot of research on how to teach social workers to be aware of how they can be a little more positive and have a more realistic view of themselves.
One thing I think a social worker can do, is to help people identify with their own behaviors. We have a tendency to judge our own behaviors by how we compare them with other behaviors. Not everyone is a terrorist or a murderer. Not everyone is a sex addict. Not everyone is an alcoholic. We want to be able to identify with being a part of some group. We want to identify with being a part of a social environment.
The problem is that we often fail to identify with our own behaviors. That’s one of the reasons why social workers are so important. Social workers can help us identify with our own behaviors and then help us change our behaviors and our lives so that we can be more like the people we are.
We’re on the verge of entering a new phase in the evolution of human consciousness, where people begin to identify with behaviors that they didn’t before. But this is a phase that will likely be much longer lasting than the current human era. We’ll continue to struggle with our basic human needs and desires, and we’ll continue to struggle with our basic human behaviors.
The only thing that is happening in all of this is our basic human desires and behaviors. In January we’ll see the first phase of this change. When our basic human behaviors change, we will begin to identify with behaviors that are different than our current behaviors.
