There’s a huge difference between people with and without self-awareness. People without self-awareness don’t see their actions and behaviors as other people do, and as a result, they’re oblivious to their shortcomings, biases, and how they affect people. Being self-aware means you recognize your strengths and weaknesses and how you influence others. Here are 14 things people without self-awareness often say.
1. “I know myself better than anyone else.”
People without self-awareness usually believe they know themselves better than anyone else. While this is true to an extent, there are some things you can’t know about yourself without talking to other people. Acknowledging other people’s perspectives is key and allows you to grow into a better person, Psychology Today notes. Self-aware people understand that their internal views could be skewed and seek external input.
2. “I’m always right.”
If you don’t have self-awareness, you might find yourself consistently saying that you’re always right. No one is right all the time, and unless this phrase is said in jest, it’s a big sign of a lack of self-awareness. When someone says this, it’s a sign that they aren’t open to feedback and other perspectives. They are set in their ways and believe they always know better than everyone else, even if they’re speaking to an expert on a topic.
3. “Everyone else is wrong.”
This phrase ties into the last one, and while it might sound like the same thing, there is a difference. Rather than having an immovable faith in themselves by thinking they’re always right, believing other people are always wrong completely discounts everyone else’s intelligence. Thinking you’re always right is about ego and lack of self-awareness in your own intelligence. Thinking everyone else is wrong is more about lacking the ability to consider other perspectives, or the possibility of being wrong yourself.
4. “I don’t need anyone’s help.”
People without self-awareness will seldom ask for help from other people. They insist on handling everything alone and don’t recognize their own limitations. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, but people without self-awareness think everything is a strength.
5. “I don’t need to change.”
Change is a natural part of life, and people with self-awareness recognize that changing and growing throughout life is important. However, people without self-awareness think they’ve always been perfect. As a result, they don’t think they need to change anything about how they act or treat people.
6. “I’m just being honest.”
This is a phrase that people will use to excuse saying rude or disrespectful things. They’ll call someone fat and say they’re just being honest, hiding behind the veil that honesty is always the most important thing. They think no one can or should be upset with them if they’re just being honest, so they’ll say that whenever they say something rude as an excuse.
7. “It’s not my fault.”
People without self-awareness will never admit fault. Not only will they not admit it, but they truly believe they’re never at fault. When something goes wrong, they’ll pass the blame onto someone else. If no one else is involved, they’ll say it went wrong because of something out of their control. Regardless, it’s never their fault.
8. “I don’t care what people think.”
People who don’t have self-awareness will often say they don’t care about what people think. They say this because they don’t think there’s any value in other people’s opinions. They think their opinion of everything is right, so there’s no need to discuss things with other people, especially if they have a different opinion. The only time they’ll have conversations with other people is to validate their own opinions.
9. “I’m not being defensive.”
When a person without self-awareness has their opinion challenged, they’ll often get on the defensive. However, they’ll go out of their way to say that they aren’t being defensive. Instead, they’ll say, “I’m just explaining to you why I’m right about this, and you’re wrong.” It’s a defensive mechanism they use without even knowing it.
10. “Why is everyone always so rude to me?”
People without self-awareness will often say things that offend people. Those people will then either ignore them or get upset and respond in an equally rude manner. People without self-awareness don’t realize that they’re being rude, so they don’t understand why other people are responding to them in a negative manner. As a result, they’ll wonder why everyone is rude to them when they are the cause.
11. “If something went wrong, it wasn’t because of me.”
Even people without self-awareness know that things can go wrong sometimes. However, unlike people with self-awareness, they always think it’s because of someone else. If they were working on a group project at work that did not meet the manager’s standards, they’d say they did their part perfectly. These types of people are kings and queens of shifting the blame to everyone else and never taking responsibility.
12. “Why do bad things always happen to me?”
People without self-awareness have trouble recognizing patterns in their actions and how they can affect them in other aspects of life. So, when things go wrong, they’ll complain that bad things always happen to them. They think they’re a victim of bad luck because they don’t reflect on their actions and how they could have caused the misfortune.
13. “It’s not a big deal, I do that all the time.”
When people do things that excite them, they’ll rush to tell their friends and family. People without self-awareness will downplay those people’s successes without even realizing it. For example, if someone comes to work on Monday excited to tell everyone they ran a half-marathon, the person lacking self-awareness might say, “That’s not a big deal, I ran the full marathon.” They downplay other people’s efforts when they should be validating their successes.
14. “People need to stop being so sensitive.”
People without self-awareness are typically lacking in tact. As a result, they’ll say things that offend people. Then, when those people get offended, they’ll proclaim that people need to stop being sensitive. They’ll say this rather than reflecting on their joke possibly being inappropriate.
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