3 TRIED & TESTED WAYS TO EXPLORE YOURSELF

Alina Shaffi
4 min readApr 7, 2021

“There are heroic possibilities waiting to be discovered in every person”- Wilferd Peterson

Knowing yourself is the most powerful ability you’ll be able to possess; it adds a plus point to one’s personality and boosts up one’s confidence. Although exploring and discovering about yourself could appear sort of a self-centered act yet it creates the bottom of everything we do in life.

So as to stand out and be different from the rest of the world, one should certainly explore himself.

We as human beings are curious species, we love to explore and gain information however when it comes to exploring ourselves, we hesitate.

We are often told that one should not be taking risks in life and that is what made us fearful, we fear failures but why don’t we fear staying unknown to our true self, that is much worse than failures. Why are we afraid to fail, after all, life is all about “the next right step!”

Your next right step is asking yourself the following questions and analyzing your answers:

  1. What exactly do I want from life?
  2. Do I love myself?
  3. If yes, what was the last thing I did for myself?
  4. What are my priorities?
  5. What are my insecurities?
  6. Name 3 things good and bad about yourself?
  7. Why am I letting the world decide who I am?

While answering these questions you’ll realize, you don’t know yourself the way you claim to, and your journey begins. It may take a while but it surely worth it, you’ll be mesmerized when you’ll discover your inner capabilities.

If you are curious to know, how can you truly discover yourself then keep on reading, (excuse me, if I sound like a Youtuber) so without further due let’s jump onto the most effective ways you can explore yourself.

(I, myself tried these ways and it’s highly effective)

Set your goals for the day:

It may sound unrealistic but trust me it’s highly effective, set your goals daily and try to achieve those goals. Beginning your day with a positive habit will increase your productivity and management in life and you end up feeling great and positive about yourself. If you feel great just by setting your goals then imagine achieving those. By the end of the day, once you’ll complete your tasks, you’ll feel accountable and up to the mark. I, myself follow this step, when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I hold is a pen (not a philosopher however I do hold a pen) and I set my goals for the day. It is additionally a great way to spend time with yourself and stay away from your phone and other distractions. The thinking process you’ll undergo while setting your goals is the main characteristic of this step, in that process you’ll understand your priorities and what you prefer to try to do, which is going to help you in better understanding of yourself, Afterall “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”- Aristotle

Expand your boundaries:

Viktor E. Frankl once said: “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”

Now, you may ask, how am I able to notice purpose in life?

Well, you’ll have to expand your boundaries. Try various new activities and step out of your comfort zone. Do what you find interesting but hesitate to try. Life is too short to wait, do it now (I don’t know why I sound like a motivational speaker). I’ve tried a lot of new things, for example, learned fine arts (sketching, painting, calligraphy…), studied literature, studied psychology, studied computer science, tried reading new novels, tried learning graphic designing, currently, I’m learning guitar, majoring in Chinese language and lastly, I’m giving writing a try (I love it though). The point is that I explore myself in every field that is of my interest and you should also.

Take out time to observe yourself:

What do you do in your leisure time?

The answer is simple, our hands automatically grab our phones and when we realize it, we’ve had already spent an hour scrolling down our phones. How is one going to discover oneself when one is watching others and trying to imitate them?

The first thing you need to do is that you need to take out time to be all by yourself without any sort of distraction interrupting you. Travel alone and be yourself you’ll realize how different you are when you are not surrounded by the people you know, go shopping alone (girl’s advice), go for a walk and feel the nature around you, you’ll be mesmerized to see how much beauty the world holds. Talk to yourself, according to studies talking to yourself has been proven a healthy and effective way to motivate one’s self, so just do it, try to use more positive words. Speak your thoughts out loud, talk about various topics, this will help you understand your opinion and to clear out your perspective of how you view the world around you. Just take out 10 minutes minimum for yourself and you’ll see an unbelievable positive change in you.

Take away:

Set your goals daily to know about your priorities and try to achieve those goals.

Try out new things, be genuine to yourself, and don’t hesitate to try new things, step out of your comfort zone and make every experience worth it.

Spend time with yourself, love yourself the way you love others, prioritize yourself, try and get close to nature.

Be happy don’t go too hard on yourself, your happiness is what matters the most at the end of the day.

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