TUT Interpersonal Communication Self Concept Reflection Discussion

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Interpersonal Communication-Self-Concept Reflection

The readings have helped me to self-reflect better. I have learned some of the things that are suitable for me to do when evaluating myself and the ones that I should avoid. For example, I now know that I should only compare myself to an appropriate reference group. Doing otherwise might make me feel ordinary or inferior as a person. In the past, I have been guilty of this on several occasions. I plan to change this form of self-evaluation. The readings have also prompted me to reflect on why I have been a victim of my morning thoughts so many times. I now know that my expectations of how the day or an event will influence my behavior. From now henceforth, I will endeavor to be more positive every morning so that my behavior can influence positive outcomes for the rest of the day.

I think that my friends’ assessment of me is largely accurate. First, all of my friends think that I am an honest person. I fully agree with this. They add that I am never worried about being the most popular and that I always choose honesty over being popular with people. I say things as I see them and what people think of me is the least of my worries. They also admire me for always giving my honest opinion even when I am on the minority side. I am also thick-skinned and I prefer people being honest with me rather than lying thinking that they are protecting me by doing so. They conclude that for being an honest friend, they hold a lot of trust in me. This is because they know that they can count on me to tell them the truth and not mislead them.

Besides being an honest person, they all observed that I am a confident person. I agree with this. Because of my confidence, they admire that I am never afraid of being corrected. I always value the truth more than I value being right. When I am wrong I always accept that I am wrong and I do not argue about it. I also like to listen more than I talk. I believe that part of being a confident person involves being quiet as others speaking because this is the only way that I can learn from other people. My confidence also allows me to appreciate others and not put them down. I believe that I am my competition and that I do not have to put others down for me to be successful.

I have learned how flexible my self-conception is. How I behave and talk is highly dependent on who I am around. Around older people, for example, my parents, I am overly shy unlike when I am with my peers where I am usually more outgoing and outspoken. Adler et al. (2015) add that it is normal for people to change from context to context. Before the end of the day, an individual may be required to play several roles (Adler et al., 2015). I also got to understand why in some cases when faced by a situation I am not always confident but still end up handling it and finding a breakthrough. The perceived self is not always accurate. Whereas I have always thought of myself as very secretive, that might not be the case because when I speak out I like to be honest. Adler et al. (2015) say that being honest when one speaks out, can equate to be an act of self-disclosure.

Over the years, my self-identity has changed. I changed my self-identity after realizing that the identity I was using was not who I am. Painful experiences early in my life had changed the way I perceived and presented myself throughout my life. This way I lost the true sense of who I am. After some self-evaluation, I realized that this was not who I wanted to be and from then on I decided to make changes in the way I perceived myself. Since I changed my self-identity, I feel more positive about myself and also love to surround myself with positive people.

I can now do a better self-reflection courtesy of the course readings. The readings have taught me who I should and should not compare myself to and the immense power of my thoughts in influencing my behavior. I concur with my friend’s assessment of me. I agree that I am assertive and honest. I know that I value the truth and always tell the truth. I am also confident enough to stand with what I believe in and accept corrections whenever I am wrong. I have learned that I have a flexible self-conception and the reason I am sometimes fearful of situations but handle them quite easily in the end. Adverse experiences in my early life have also made me change my self-identity over the years.