Self-reliance, disaster preparations, emergency response how do they relate to Self-Awareness, read this to find out.

  I bought a camera last week, I've had one or two in my life so far, I had relatively little interest in photography until I started following photographers on G+. I have discovered there is an enormous amount of talent that is involved, I am not trying to be a "master" photographer, my goal is to make decent Youtube videos. I have made a few with my cell phone, it was awkward for me as well, they were good quality pictures and the audio was good, but the phone was not cutting it, mainly because I did not like using it. My desire was to use the zoom and take some videos of wildlife mostly, to catch a flying bird is extremely difficult for me. I don't know how camera operators at sporting events can follow for instance golf balls in flight, or a baseball after it is hit, to me it's magic.

I would like to be able to capture this, however, I am aware it
will take a lot of practice for me to accomplish.

It seems like magic even more so now that I bought a low-end video camera, I have a huge learning curve. I watch a fairly large amount of videos on Youtube, I watch them to enable me to figure out all aspects of producing a quality video, my first 5 are amateur, but not terrible in comparison to some. I bring this up not to advertise my video channel but to talk about another aspect of, well I guess you'd call it life in general. I realized that it is a process of self-evaluation, I am taking the videos', editing them (big learning curve there as well for me), evaluating the result, and finally making a decision as to whether or not I want to publish them for the world to see. Self-evaluation to me is a process of taking an internal audit of the skills I possess to accomplish any given task. That is a tough gig, after being so self-reliant and independent my entire life, (I'm 66 years old) to evaluate my self can lead to a position of denial, and if I'm not careful it can also become a negative mind exercise. The only other way is to ask for input from other perspectives, in other words asking someone to make an evaluation of me honestly. Boy, that's scary, I don't know where it originated but my French Canadian dad would say "Don't ask the question if you don't want to hear the answer." I have taken that saying to heart and put it use during my life, but even at that the evaluation from another person may not be accurate as well. So I can make a list on my own, on one column maybe title "things I know," about a certain subject, and on the other column "things I don't know." That exercise also turns into a completely different end result, although I believe it's the correct direction to go. The end result is "Self-Awareness", it's the place where I have to start, and is the subject of this blog. Self-Awareness and how it relates to being prepared for future events, disasters, celebrations, disagreements, and any other of life's experiences that we encounter.

Even the happiest celebrations in the world are stressful, prepare
for it and your self-awareness will be increased.

  Self-Awareness has been defined by many professional Psychologists, with many of them writing professional papers and books on the subject, it is a very involved subject. Most likely everyone in the world could come up with a definition of it and how they relate it to their own lives and behaviors'. I have a definition for self-awareness and how it relates to my life, however, it is no way adaptable to everyone's situations. This photography adventure I am embarking on is what started my gears turning pertaining to self-awareness. It has been defined as "Emotional Intelligence", which is to me Empathy, the ability to identify the feelings, thoughts or attitudes of our fellow human beings, that's only part of it. Some define it as being a self-conscience evaluator of one's self, yes that's what I'm talking about today.
  My definition is a continual self-evaluation of myself, in so far as how mentally prepared I am for any unexpected or even planned event, in other words, it's important for me to know my limitations. It is very important to know in advance how I may relate to any given situation that presents itself, whether it's dropping a watermelon and breaking it or reacting to a catastrophic explosion. Military training deals with this exact subject in training, when a person is afforded good training when a situation presents itself, the person most of the time reverts back to the training. I experienced explosions on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, my shipmates and I reacted almost automatically, due to our intensive training. That is the reason I am an advocate of preparing an emergency plan, practicing it, and having supplies on hand. In a nutshell that is how I see self-awareness being related to self-reliance, I'm not sure one is possible without the other.
  The more a person is aware of what their limitations as well as what they excel in the more effective they will be in the event of any situation. As far as being independent and self-sufficient it pays to recognize in advance what a person's capabilities are, I read an article by a professional writer where he stated that his knowledge of mechanics is non-existent. He stated that he knows grammar, spelling, editing, and every aspect of his trade, however, someone could spend all day explaining how a motor works and he would not catch on. That my friends is to me being self-aware, he knows his limitations and his expertise, he's got it figured out. That is very valuable in an emergency, realize your limitations and make allowances for them mentally before anything happens.
  A large part of how I define self-awareness is to be aware of the dangers of any situation you may be encountering, that sounds easy, and in some instances it is. If for instance, I fall out of a boat, my life vest will help me and make it easy to get back on board again, it helps to know if I can swim or not, how strong the current is, where the ladder to get back on board is, and what needs to be done to ward off hypothermia. If for instance, I could not swim, I would know that, and by being self-aware I would be able to prepare myself if I were to fall overboard, no one else could possibly know my limitations unless I were to tell them. That in many ways is self-awareness, I have to tell myself mentally which lives skills I do not possess to cope with in a boating incident, it can be related to every one of life's tasks.
  Self-Awareness is also the realization of the potential hazards of your everyday life, and it is included in FEMA's family disaster planning templates (Link to the templates) Many people have lived in the same location for many years, others' move around due to job transfers, traveling, or just the desire to move on. For those of us that are a bit shall I say, tied to a wandering star, we need to evaluate our surroundings, every local in the world is the same but different. (I love that saying.) As an example I have never been in a hurricane, I was in one as it headed north from Louisianna up through Memphis when Iived there, but it was the tail end, basically just a bad rain storm. If I were to move to Hurricane country, I would have to perform some serious mental preparations. I spoke to a friend from Florida after the last Hurricane, I told her I found it unbelievable that people actually did not evacuate before the storm hit them, I was critical. I told her I could not believe they were waiting until it was determined what category the storm was before they left their homes. I thought, holy cow! Run, run as fast and as far as you can. She informed me I was totally wrong in my opinion, the people living there are all very well versed after suffering many of the storms. In addition, she said a lot of building codes have been changed making it illegal to build any structure not able to withstand a category 3 hurricane, my reply was simply "Oh". Over on her side of the street, she is every bit as puzzled since she moved to California as to why we are so nonchalant when it comes to earthquakes, That is how I see self-awareness, knowing, and preparing mentally for expected and not so expected events, in other words, be aware of your surroundings. I have a grandson who lived in Orlando when the massacre took place at the nightclub last year, he lived two blocks from there, he was a song and dance man at Disney World. We talked about things before he left, I have a saying that I tell all of the kids, "Go in with your eyes wide open," which means, evaluate the situation as you encounter it, if it doesn't feel right, leave fast. That is being self-aware as well, when in dought I tell them, run fast, run far. (He reads my blogs, so allow me this Hi Anthony, he's in Michigan right now.)

This is Florida, known for its excellent orange juice, also Hurricanes.

  Being aware of our limitations and our exceptionalism is a very important part of our survival, how can we become and stay self-aware? By just living life and learning new skills constantly, feed your curiosity and read everything, catalog in our minds what we can and cannot accomplish successfully, ask and get help with the task we are not adept at. Study the geographical area where you reside, know the natural disaster threats, know the man-made disaster threats, know what areas are not the safe places to be, in other words, be aware of as many of life's challenges as you can be. Become mentally strong, prepare for life's unpredictability, you will become as Self-Aware as you possibly can be.
  Thank you for reading and sharing my blog, what is Self-Awareness to you? Does my definition make sense or is it one of those things I am way off base on? Let me know, I'd like to hear from you in the comments. Thanks again.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com