How Well Do you Know Yourself?

[Pondering]

No person will be exactly the same as another. There seems to be many (countless) factors that contribute to who a person is. What they do, what they think, what they feel, their past, their memories, their likes/dislikes, their opinions, their personalities, understandings of life, realizations, to name a few. I sometimes think that it is just as important to understand other people as it is to understand the self. And not knowing yourself can be a scary thing sometimes, at times leading to insecurities and a constant fear of diving deep into the inner person so as to not know what will be found. So. . . how well do you know yourself?

 

[wanderer03]

No person will be exactly the same as another. There seems to be many (countless) factors that contribute to who a person is. What they do, what they think, what they feel, their past, their memories, their likes/dislikes, their opinions, their personalities, understandings of life, realizations, to name a few. I something think that it is just as important to understand other people as it is to understand the self. And not knowing yourself can be a scary thing sometimes, at times leading to insecurities and a constant fear of diving deep into the inner person so as to not know what will be found. So. . . how well do you know yourself?

I would say that I don't know myself all that well, but as each year goes by, I gain more insight. Psychotherapy has been instrumental in that.

 

[Shenanigator]

Not that well at all for my age. One of the things that struck and impressed me about this forum is the seemingly pinpoint knowledge and self awareness that some have in relation to themselves and the condition. It's something I am working towards, albeit slowly and carefully. Maybe years of diagnosis, self education and reflection are the key to this.

I can only talk from the perspective of somebody who hasn't had the time to gain such insight. Having only been referred and then diagnosed last year with something I had very little concept of (and following a difficult period of severe illness, denial, and identity crisis which followed). I feel I am only now learning and finding my way with a clear mind.

Before diagnosis I had always put things down to an appalling life long anxiety which manifested itself in different ways and caused the struggles, sensitivities and overwhelming sense of otherness which plagues me. That through trial and error I would eventially gain confidence and lose the anxiety which was wrecking my life chances. Other things such as sensitivities to texture, noise and touch were just quirks of personality, what else could they be?

However, constantly pushing myself into situations I couldn't cope with only served to reinforce the anxiety. Very good anxiety meds have largely addressed this but with little change to anything else. (It's now clear that I got the chicken and the egg the wrong way round).

From this false start it's been like trying to construct a giant dot to dot puzzle. I am making more and more links and a picture with more clarity is emerging, however as I said this takes time. Also for older, newly diagnosed aspies it means letting go of long held beliefs which were not true.

In terms of autism and self awareness it is a journey that started with a crawl but I'm finding my feet and trying to move foward.


(Quite an idiosyncratic writer with bad grammar. I prefer reading others more enlightened thoughts to writing myself).