Do you really even know yourself?
What your truest hopes, dreams, desires and fears are?
What about your biggest passions, capabilities- and even your weaknesses?
I think a lot of times we think we know ourselves, but the reality is that because we are marketed to as well as socially impacted all day long, often there are times where we can get…..skewed. It should come as no surprise to hear that we all get distracted by the way we think things are, wish things were, or assume ‘should be’- and often because of this we can lose sight of our own truth and reality. Most detrimentally, we lose recognition of ourselves in our purest forms of who we are.
I think for my own self understanding and discovery, it helps to write things down. It shuts out the noise of everything around and really focuses me onto the paper and task at hand. I like to create a list of values, dreams and goals, strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes- and then redo and revisit that list as it grows and changes like I do. Sometimes I just like to write a paragraph like I do below, and just see how I feel when I read it back- as in does it feel authentic and real to me as to being the person that I truely am? I encourage you do the same, as well as get out there try new things, see new places and meet new people to discover for yourself even more of who you are!
Know that failure and struggle can be a good thing.
If you don’t ever struggle- you will never really know who you are. There is SO much self awareness that comes from struggle.
So who am I?
I am quirky…artsy creative but I don’t have any technical skill to draw. Which is fine, because I am a dreamer. I don’t like the details to much for I am big picture thinker. I am very conceptual and innovative and would rather someone else take care of the details as it is not my strength to worry about such matters. My passion is for self development, wellness, beauty, and taking a stand for others who cannot take a stand for themselves. I can be quick to anger. I sometimes jump in too quickly. I can be emotional over rational. I am always okay to admit when I am wrong. I value honesty, simplicity, authenticity, truth …. this is just an example of my writing openly about who I am. Notice how I am okay to be open with both strengths and ‘weaknesses’/areas that I recognize I could work on but accept fully of myself at this point.
Who I am versus Who I think I am
I am fortunate enough to be able to surround myself with awesome people who call me out on my shit if necessary and also I seek additional opportunities where I can experience more self awareness which can lead to self growth and further understanding on who I am. We are always changing so who we are today might not be who we are tomorrow.
I think that it is easy now adays for our self perception to be blurred at times- with who we really are (taking the ‘good with the bad’) and who we want to be (i.e. the areas that we think we have mastered yet are far from).
Key Takeaways:
As long as you continue to learn and grow, to own your shit and to allow yourself to recognize the areas that still need work (because hey, we all got them) then just know you are on the right track to really getting to know yourself.
The biggest point to be made is to keep going, keep trying new things, keep falling or ‘failing’ forward and change things up! If you don’t try new things and take in new experiences you will not truly ever get to know yourself- and that, my friend, is no life to be lived.
Sending you so much love and light for your journey. Leave me a comment below on what you took from this post. I’d love to hear your comments!