Discovering yourself also known as self discovery is finding the real you, and finding the real you is having an enlightening experience.
To find yourself, you must first learn about yourself. When you discover yourself, you become self-sufficient and do things yourself. Discovering yourself may not be easy, but it’s worth it.
Before you start discovering yourself, there are some things you should know. Ask yourself difficult questions about your interests and beliefs.
Answer your questions sincerely and make sure you record your answers as a way to know more about yourself. Be decisive, and when you make mistakes, try to see them as learning opportunities.
If you’ve reached a point in life where you find yourself asking, “Who am I?” some self-discovery can help you get to know yourself a little better.
Self-discovery might sound big, but it is just a process of examining your life, figuring out what is missing, and taking steps to fill in the missing gap.
There is no better time for you to discover yourself than the present. Here are some tips to get you started:
1. Create Your Own Timeline
Write down the goals you have achieved and the ones you want to achieve. In like manner, write down events that have happened and how they affected you, and the ones that are likely to happen. When life brings up challenges and misfortunes, it shapes your beliefs and makes you think differently.
This is about clarification and identification of issues. These issues might be keeping you from reaching your present potential and letting your true self be discovered.
2. Distinguish Your Thoughts from the Thoughts of Others
At the end of the timeline, come out with your beliefs that are based in logic.
Feel free to think more concretely.
Do you actually agree with your parents’ political or religious affiliations?
Is having a career really the most important thing to you?
If the answer is no, great! There’s absolutely zero problem with not molding yourself to pre-existing norms. Now all you have to do is learn, unlearn, and then relearn.
3. Rely on Yourself
If you don’t have a solid sense of self-worth, you’ll listen to what others have to say all the time and be swayed by their insistence on what is appropriate.
Learn to believe in yourself, trust your own feelings, and start taking responsibility—reaching your real self.
Taking responsibility lets you be self-reliant and self-determined, no longer carried along by the waves of fate.
4. Organize Your World
Having all your affairs in order will help you to quickly find yourself. Resolve that fight with that friend. Getting everything else out of the way will clear up the path in time.
We all have excuses for not growing in the direction we want to grow, but if it is not your number 1 priority, it will never get done.
5. Follow Your Passion
If you believe in or love doing something or see beauty in something, you should do it no matter what anyone else thinks. If you have found something that is worthy of your best efforts, sacrifice, and tears, then you have found the most important pursuit of your life. Often, that pursuit can lead you to something ultimately fulfilling or your self discovery. Your passion is likely to translate your effort into success.
6. Abandon the Negative
It may be difficult, but getting out of your negativity zone will not only teach you something, but it will force you to get to know yourself—what you’re capable of, what you like, what you definitely don’t like, and what you were previously missing.
7. Question Yourself
Be sincere with yourself, ask yourself difficult questions, and record your answers.
You can ask yourself questions like this:
To reach your goals, what do you need to do?
What do you need to keep doing?
What do you need to improve on?
Don’t lie to yourself or try to be someone you are not. Remember, this is about being yourself.
As it is important to not let family members decide, it is also important not to let society and the media push you in a certain direction—especially when it comes to your physical appearance.