Reckoning with self-awareness: A discussion for sensitive people

“I have too much self-awareness.”

?This is a common expression in the world of mental health. If you have ever sat down with a coach, counselor, or therapist you may have been told at one time or another that you are very “self-aware.” Or sensitive, or you take on the world’s problems on your shoulders, or you take everything personally.

?My reaction: “Well, yeah, and that’s why I’m sitting here.” My wife and I have frequent exchanges where we will say to one another, “It’s hard being human.” Yes, it can be very hard being human. We overthink. We self-analyze. We feel deeply. We over-analyze. We assume things are our faults or about us.

?Where is this happening? Human beings have what Dr. Alok Kanojia coins as the “default mode” network in their brains. Animals do not have this default mode. It’s part of why it’s complicated to be human.

?Dr. Kanojia gave an example of this. If a moose goes to look for food in ten different places and is zero for ten in finding food, the moose doesn’t tell itself that it’s an “idiot” because it couldn’t find the food. If we look at human beings, if a man asks ten girls out on a date and all ten girls say “no” than that human being thinks about himself in a negative way. As human beings, we have a capacity for self-awareness. This self-awareness can feel overwhelming.

?For example, if you have thoughts such as, “This person would be better off without me,” this is an overactive default mode/self-awareness which doesn’t allow us to sit outside of our own experience. The same goes for thoughts about anxiety and depression. We are “aware” of these feelings.

?Humans have a very strong sense of self. This strong sense of self makes us always analyze ourselves and beat ourselves up. The focus of your mind is on “me.” It’s similar to anxiety. There can be an overwhelming sense of self which can feel difficult to step away from. This is another reason why treatments such as plant medicine aboard has grown to be popular, but here’s the thing. I can’t stress this enough: ?If this is not done in a legalized, reverent, and safe way, it can lead to issues such as PTSD.?It’s also not the only answer. Like everything else, proper research and trusting your intuition is part of the process when vetting any treatment for yourself.

?Modalities such as legalized ketamine treatment centers have become popular, because ketamine allows you to turn off the default mode network of your brain and allows you sit outside of your own experience. Ketamine can stop the feelings of being stuck in yourself. This goes for any plant medicine treatments. (DISCLAIMER: do not use Ketamine recreationally. Not only is this illegal, but ketamine centers also go through the proper steps with purity and facilitation.)

?The first step in reckoning with excessive self-awareness is recognizing that extreme self-awareness in this default mode network is something that can acknowledged and chatted about with your mental health provider. From here, there are steps, techniques, boundaries, and other modalities that can help turn this into overwhelming strength in your life.