One of the most rewarding journeys you can embark on is self-discovery. Finding what makes you who you are is essential for creating a self-fulfilling life filled with passion and purpose. However, so many of us still need to take the time to sit down and truly get a grasp of ourselves.
You find your true self by conducting an effective self-inventory, exploring your passions, and getting control of your world. Evaluating your likes, skills, values, and experiences pulls you from the mundane so you can focus on what choices, career paths and social groups give you meaning.
The rest of this article will explore the self, how to evaluate your story, find passions, and establish your new self in society.
What Is the Self?
Before you can find what self-concept means to you, it’s essential to understand what it is exactly.
This could be a separate article, but self-concept is essential to how we view our skills, habits, and personal characteristics. It is typically influenced by yourself and outside factors, like how others view or treat us. Self-perception can affect our attitudes, beliefs, and even our behavior.
As we age and are exposed to new experiences, our self-concept becomes harder to change.
This is why we are encouraged to spend our younger years focusing on self-discovery. Self-concept tends to be more malleable before our perception becomes more ironed out and organized.
According to the professional psychologist Carl Rodgers, self-concept is split into three parts: self-image, ideal self, and self-esteem. These three factors come together to create your true self.
- Self-image is how we see ourselves in the present moment. Your societal roles, personality traits, and physical attributes make up your self-image.
- Ideal self is who we want to be in the future. This person possesses attributes, behaviors, and skills you wish you had and are working towards. It is who you imagine and aspire to be.
- Self-esteem is how much we enjoy, value, and accept the person we are. Self-esteem can be influenced by many personal factors but is the part affected most by outside factors.
1. Take Self-Inventory
With a base understanding of self-concept, you can learn how to find it yourself. The most effective way to do this is by conducting a self-inventory. This includes reflecting on your past, asking questions, and learning your strengths.
Understand Your Story
If you want to find yourself, the first step is reflection. We all have good and bad experiences that make us who we are today. Taking the time to examine your history critically is the first essential step before true self-discovery.
The beliefs and atmosphere we experience in early childhood have lingerie effects on our adult lives. In the case of traumatic events, these experiences have an even more profound impact on our self-concept. If left unresolved, these events typically have adverse effects on your self-image, self-esteem, and self-concept as a whole.
Ask Yourself Questions
With a clear understanding of where we’ve come from, you can focus on getting more insight. Asking yourself complex and far-reaching questions helps you understand who we are and we have changed. You don’t need answers to all of them immediately. Self-discovery takes time, and it’s more important to have thought-out responses than quick ones.
Ask yourself questions like:
- Who am I?
- What do I want to do with my life?
- What do I lack?
- Who do I want to be?
Take this time to start here and continue to dig deeper. It is crucial to continue revisiting your answers and finding new questions as you continue your journey.
Find Your Skills
While knowing where we can improve is great, finding and noting our strengths is a big piece of knowing who we are. Think back to a time you were in the zone. What were you doing? What are some activities you’re not only good at but have an easy time doing? Your goal is to get as detailed as possible to find something concrete and not general.
Even when you’re completely honest with yourself, sometimes we miss things other people see in us. This is a great time to ask for outside help. Ask your peers, family, or anybody you trust to find talents you might be unaware of.
2. Understand Your Purpose
Passions are simply the things we love to do. Whether that’s movies, working out, or the arts, we all have things that make us happy. These activities can remain hobbies or evolve into something more professional. Exploring your passions leads to a more prosperous life full of meaning.
It’s important to know it doesn’t have to be something complex. Ultimately it doesn’t matter what it is as long it excites you. When you find something that clicks, stick with it.
Find your values
While it’s essential to look at our past for insight into how we become who we are, our history doesn’t make our future or present. No matter what beliefs or standards you lived by in the past, Evaluating if those principles still match the person you are today or want to be is essential.
Following your passions will help fill your life with meaning, but understanding your core values is the only way truly find purpose. Our values guide us to self-discovery and growth, ensuring we keep track of what’s essential.
Honesty, loyalty, courage, and compassion will have different levels of importance based on who you ask. Understanding our feelings about these principles offers stability and keeps us from losing ourselves to external factors.
Mentors & Social Groups
Humans are proven to be social creatures. Finding someone who can teach you or others with similar passions and values can help fast-track your growth by introducing you to new perspectives.
Having a solid support system does wonders for self-improvement. Having someone or a group of people you trust to bounce ideas and issues off of will provide unique advantages you won’t see when working alone.
3. Control Your World
With a solid base of who you have been and what drives you, you can focus on how to bring those ideals into reality.
Meditation & Journaling
While working with others can significantly help, much of the self-improvement work is done alone. Meditation is an excellent tool for finding deeper insights into our identity. Recording essential questions and answers in a journal can help you stay on track with your journey in real-time. This takes our mental work and puts it in a more concrete form.
Find the Right Career Path
As adults, having the resources to take care of yourself is vital. However, after much self-assessment, you might find that your current career aligns differently from your newfound purpose. Part of what makes us who we are is how we give back to society. When we work in positions that don’t reinforce our values or passions, it can have adverse effects on our self-concept.
Finding a position that matches your interests is ideal, but it is only possible sometimes. If you can’t, maintaining an effective work/life balance is essential for you to pursue your beliefs while sustaining your lifestyle.
Ignore Negativity
The last factor is straightforward but can be the most difficult. As you begin your journey of discovery and growth, you will find various obstacles. Breaking from your current mold is often met with resistance from your present peer groups. As these outside voices and factors attempt to keep you where you are, you must stand firm in your values.
However, some of your resistance will be internal. Growth is rewarding but a complicated process. As we attempt to grow from who we were, we often run into degrees of self-doubt. Being honest while remaining kind to yourself and keeping your mind open will keep you from backtracking as you move further from your comfort zones.