When I was a teenager, I was walking along the sidewalk on a busy street near my house, tripped on a slab of the slate sidewalk that was jutting out and caught myself before faceplanting. As I stood up, I could feel this immediate rush of blood overcome my face and was terrified that someone in a car saw what happened. For the record, if any car saw me trip, they were long gone by the time I had this thought.

That was the first time I experienced, what I assume is, blushing. It was such an unusual sensation. I could feel the rise of heat coming from my neck up to my forehead and then flow back down after a few seconds. While I was a self-conscious person before that, I hadn’t had a physical manifestation of my self-consciousness until that moment.

Self-conscious is a funny term. In one instance, like above, it means to be aware of how I am being perceived by others, and then, in a completely different vein, it can also mean to be aware of myself and who I am.

Both are about awareness, but one can be our super power and the other can be our kryptonite.

The more we are conscious of our selves and who we are, the less we are concerned about the perception of who we are by other people. Now, at the end of the day, we are human and are wired for connection and security through community so completely shedding care about how others perceive us may not be 100% ideal either.

However, what we can all use more of is the unattached perception of self – it is a game changer.