In your own estimation how much does how you perceive yourself differ from how others generally tend to perceive you?

I believe… Fully well aware and cognizant of the LIE hidden in the middle of any beLIEf…

That I know myself better than anyone, I believe that I understand myself on a unique level as I am honest with everything about me as an intentional event of rational and observed demonstration.

But that never stops the beLIEf’s of others from erasing everything that you are to their own conjoined perception of who they will make you given the chance to justify their own feelings about you just because it makes them feel better about their own beLIEf’s.

I’ve got really damn low self-esteem at times, so I’m usually shocked when people come to me telling me I’m their “hero” or “suave” and things like that. I don’t know the reason behind this.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard You should start to listen… By mere observation of what is… You’re pretty damn neat in my eyes. *not that my eyes matter or anything but… you know?

@GabrielsLamb you are exceptionally kind to me, and I appreciate it.

When my kids and my employees got together to compare notes they couldn’t believe they were talking about the same person.
At work, I have no problem being confrontational, asking the hard questions and keeping people accountable.
At home, I strive for peace and harmony. My kids think I’m a push over and my employees…. well…. If they are competent and honest they love me. They DO respect me.

I don’t know. Because those around me don’t tell me that often how they see me.

I think my self image is pretty damn congruent with how others view me as well.

I have been told many times that I am liked because I am “real ”, that others never have to guess where they stand with me, that I am “formidable, yet sincere.”

Just last night a good friend of mine left me a message in return to a message I had left him, we are trying to set a date for a get together and he is traveling again soon for work.

His exact words, warmed my heart ;-) were ” Hey, got your message and it cracked me up, I just wanted to say, I so appriceate you, you’re a hoot, you are just so REAL! ”

People see what they want to see. People might be right about me 30% of the time. I have a virtually impenetrable outer shell.

It doesn’t differ at all, what you see is what yo…..oh you know!

I know myself better than anybody else. I say act completely different at home and in other situations. I’m perceived one way, but I perceive myself as completely different.

I don’t really know how other people see me usually, I think I am being myself most of the time unless I’m at work I’m very distance.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard, well you ARE pretty awesome.
I don’t think of myself as pretty all that often, but people tell me I’m pretty. I think that’s about it.

I don’t honestly know. I don’t really know how other people view me. I am pretty transparent but also (like most people) complicated. I have areas where I am very confident and sure of how I think ‘who I think I am’ is being transmitted and received and there are areas were I am very unsure and even insecure about ‘how who I think I am’ is being transmitted and received. I therefore think the answer to this question is that it depends on the realm of my life we are talking about and the level of interaction I have had with people.

With my very close friends and family, I am quite clear about what they think of me (both good and bad). In my work, I am often surprised about the reactions and feedback I get from both my peers and students. I am often surprised at these reactions (in a positive way). There are others though within my work realm that I am perhaps in awe of that I cannot believe even notice me that much. There are others who I feel just don’t get me. This might be because of how my connections with them, fit in with their needs and desires. It also depends on the ‘real’ interactions I have had with these people. Often people can really only access ‘me’ in a very superficial way.

I think how people ‘know’ us depends on so many variants. Why we interacted? How we interacted? What their expectations and hopes were from that interaction? And a million other things that are out of my control and that I can’t ever necessarily know about.

@laineybug thank you. You’re very sweet.

I have a hard time gauging what people think of me, or how people perceive me. My self esteem is lousy, so I have no doubt that there are many aspects of “me” that other people perceive more positively than I do, myself.
I often find myself confused when someone takes me the wrong way, and I’ll spend a long time analyzing and trying to figure out what could have gone awry. It’s kind of ridiculous.