Lost And Found: The Journey of Self-Discovery
The road to self-discovery is – when you lose yourself, you find yourself. In our fast-paced life, we do not get time to understand and know ourselves, our values, our needs, our desires, our dreams, maybe even our basic likes and dislikes. Self-discovery is when we identify what motivates us, our goals, our aspirations, what makes us eager to go to work on a Monday (bye-bye Monday morning blues), knowing our weaknesses and strengths, what makes us feel alive and enriches our life. It is when we evaluate our life, reflect and think about what works for us and what does not.
Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom
Benefits of self-discovery
1) Clarity: Self-discovery gives us clarity of our values, thereby aiding in sound decision making and relative actions.
2) Purpose: Self-discovery gives us a sense of purpose by identifying our goals so that we can motivate ourselves to work towards reaching them.
3) Self-awareness: Self-discovery boosts our self-awareness, thus we can understand ourselves (our feelings, beliefs, desires) better, thereby regulating and managing our emotions, and relieving stress/anxiety.
4) Strengths: Self-discovery brings to the fore our strengths, our abilities, and our skills, aiding us in career choices.
5) Weaknesses: Self-discovery helps us discover our weaknesses and shortcomings and work towards improving them. This increases our confidence, and we can cope better with failures.
6) Decisions: Self-discovery makes us take better decisions as per our values and goals.
7) Desires: Self-discovery makes us discover our desires and passions, which aid in selecting the perfect vocation/career that is in sync with our values, beliefs, and interests.
8) Resilience: Self-discovery enhances our resilience, as we can recover from setbacks sooner.
9) Relationships: Self-discovery teaches us to interact better with others, thereby enriching our interpersonal relationships.
10) Wellness: Self-discovery improves our wellness by increasing our self-confidence/self-worth/self-esteem. It reduces stress/anxiety and is beneficial for our overall wellness.
11) Empathy: Self-discovery improves our empathy, thereby making us understand the other person’s perspective better.
12) Self-control: Self-discovery helps us control our emotions and feelings better.
13) Creativity: Self-discovery boosts our creativity, and we are able to express ourselves better through creative mediums.
Ways to self-discovery
Self-discovery is an ongoing process and requires time. It may be easy for some but time-consuming for others. These are certain ways which can assist you on the path to self-discovery.
- Always show up and do your best, every day, no matter what the circumstances
- Explore new possibilities and take risks
- Develop your passions and what delights you
- Understand your strengths and use these to improve your circumstances
- Practice Journaling, mindfulness, and meditation
- Choose the company of supportive and positive-minded people
- Accept, learn from your mistakes, and proceed
- Recall your childhood and awaken the child inside you
- Pique your curiosity and ask questions
- Develop regular habits for personal growth
- Engage in positive self-talk
- Reward yourself, as motivation to grow further
Self-discovery helps you set your goals and work towards an improved life. It strengthens your character and makes you less self-critical of. Your self-esteem, self-confidence and self-assurance are greatly enhanced. You begin to venture from your comfort zone to discover newer, hidden facets of your life. No doubt, it is tough, but then, who said life was easy?
“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond and to know one’s self”
Commitment, focus, time, effort, prioritising your needs and working towards self-discovery is an entire process. It makes you understand what is missing from your life. It will be difficult to digest certain things about yourself, but you can do it! Instil faith and confidence in yourself, and the sky is the limit! Remember, no one is perfect in this world and “to err is human”. Do not be too hard on yourself and give yourself a break. After all, from the mud does the water lily emerge – become that lily!
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes”
Self-discovery is a beautiful journey, make it a part of your life and watch the magic unfold.
