The road to self discovery is not an easy one. Here is my guide to how I started my self-discovery journal and things to consider when you go on yours!
If you are anything like me when someone says “tell me about yourself” or anything along those lines you panic. Well, it’s time for that to all end and for us to face that question head-on. My first challenge to you is to answer that question. Write down who you are, what you like, what you don’t like, anything and everything about you. If you had to introduce yourself to someone, what would you say? I know this is a huge task but please stay with me.
Reflection is Important
A lot of the time, as we grow up we tend to lose interest in things we enjoyed when we were younger. For me, I loved to write and to read. And in the past 6 months, I have done more writing and reading than I have in the past 6 years. Things you truly enjoy, want to do, and even sometimes have to do, get put on the back burner. This is a normal phenomenon in our lives, let’s face it, there is not enough time in the day. But slowly, we can start to rediscover ourselves.
Reminding yourself of things you enjoyed in the past is always a great place to start when you are looking to find yourself. A lot of times as we grow up, things change and priorities shift. We often don’t get the freedom to think about what used to make us happy. Reinstating those things into our adult routines is the perfect way to add some self-care and happiness into your life.
Looking into the Future
Remember how I told you to describe yourself? Well here is why! If you don’t have a lot to say about yourself or you wrote things that are very general, it is time to do a deep dive. Instead of trying to figure out who I am right this second, I have started to think “well who do I want to be?” That is truly what matters, so let’s explore.
I want to be a confident person who can own any room she is in. I also want to become a better writer. I definitely feel like I can be negative, so I want to be more positive. And finally, I want to help others in any way I can.
So who and what do you want to be? Once you figure that out there’s more self-discovery and steps you need to take to become that person. But figuring it what you want is the first place you want to start.
Create Habits to Start Your Journey
I spoke earlier about things we used to do. Another good thing to start thinking about is what are the habits of the person you want to be? For example, I want to be confident, so should I look in the mirror and rip myself apart? No. A confident person says kind things to themselves. Should I hide away in a corner when I walk into a room? No, I should try to talk to someone. Both of these tasks seem simple, but I know myself. I like to be in my safety net and talking to strangers is not in my safety net. So please start small. Say hi to one new person when you walk into the room and then slowly build up from there.
In your self-discovery journey, please remember your mental health, safety, and comfort are still your number one priority. If you are not comfortable doing something or it causes stress, don’t do it. So I may not walk into a room and talk to people, but I started this blog which is a huge step for me! Count every positive thing you do towards this new person as a win and do not get discouraged.
