Divided by nations, united by thoughts, one thing we can all agree on is health should come first. It’s our common primitive knowledge. Our brains are wired to survive and avoid pain since our first breath on earth. As babies that can’t do anything but cry, we put variations to the sounds so our mother knows what we need – and they actually do. As kids, we stumble a little, trying to balance our joy of exploration with the knee crashes and stitched scars on our bodies. However as we ease into our adulthood, we slowly start to forget.
As adolescents, we are bombarded with hormones, emotions and stress of trying to fit into a world which doesn’t know which box we belong to. Eating disorders, nicotine/alcohol consumption, self harm etc. creep into our lives mostly during this era. Here is what I gathered so far:
- Eating disorders start between 13-18 with a 2.5% rate,
- Around 18-20% people aged between 12-20 currently consume some form of nicotine,
- 27% of 15-19 y.o. teenagers worldwide are drinking alcohol,
- Self-Harm & Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is around 20%
Because while system is busy telling kids that mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell and (a+b)(a-b) = a²-b² , it rarely pauses to explain what to do when your chest feels tight for no obvious reason, or why anger sometimes disguises itself as numbness. We teach performance before presence, productivity before self-awareness. An average high-school graduate knows tons of detailed information from physics to math, literature to history but often lacks the insight to their own internal world.
And yet, this doesn’t mean that our fate is sealed. Self-awareness is not an innate gift reserved for the lucky few — it is a skill, one we can relearn at any age. It begins quietly, often awkwardly, with noticing. Not fixing. Not labeling. Just noticing. The tightening of the jaw when something feels unfair. The heaviness behind the eyes that isn’t tiredness. The restlessness that shows up not because something is wrong, but because something wants attention.
Although seen as something to be controlled or suppressed, emotions are not malfunctions; they are simply messages. Anxiety often speaks of uncertainty, anger of crossed boundaries, sadness of attachment and loss. When we learn to listen instead of suppress, the body no longer needs to shout. What once demanded coping mechanisms can soften into awareness.
Self-awareness also invites compassion — especially toward ourselves. Many of the habits we criticize were once survival strategies. Numbing, avoiding, overworking, overachieving: these were not failures of character, but attempts to stay afloat. Recognizing this allows us to respond differently, replacing judgment with curiosity, and urgency with patience.
Health, then, becomes less about control and more about relationship — a relationship with our thoughts, our bodies, our limits. Here are a few ways to build and improve that relationship.
1- Work on your health like it’s your job. Both mental and physical, track your habits, your mood, your food/water intake. Take notes, hell even make an Excel spreadsheet out of it. Because your well-being deserves at least the same attention and effort you put so easily in other areas of life.
2- Name your emotions accurately – your inner world has more options than fine/not fine. We often reduce our internal world to “fine,” “stressed,” or “tired,” when in reality it may be disappointment, envy, joy, fear, or overwhelm. Expanding our emotional vocabulary gives our experiences shape — and what has a shape is easier to hold without escaping it.
3- Learn to separate feeling from action. Feeling angry does not require acting aggressively. Feeling sad does not demand isolation. Emotions are temporary states, not instructions. When we allow them to exist without immediately fixing or numbing them, they tend to pass more quickly and with less force. Sometimes only way out really is through.
4- Listen to your body. Tight shoulders, shallow breathing, headaches, restlessness — these are often early signals, not inconveniences. Regular sleep, nourishment, movement, and moments of stillness are not productivity failures; they are maintenance. A regulated body creates space for a regulated mind.
5- Become aware of how you feel in certain situations. Self-awareness also grows through boundaries. Not every invitation needs a yes. Not every thought needs to be believed. Learning to notice when something consistently drains or dysregulates us — and responding accordingly — is a form of mental hygiene, not selfishness.
In a world full of noise, run by a system feeds on our hurt and rarely gives any resources on how to deal with it, I hope this list helps. If you want to learn more, here are some books that build my knowledge on this:
- Brene Brown – Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit
- Kristen Neff – Self-compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself
- James Clear – Atomic Habits
- Tara Brach – Radical Acceptance
- Jonathan Haidt – The Happiness Hypothesis
Stay safe out there 🙂
With Love,
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