From the movie "Into the Wild"
A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it - George Moore
Self-discovery is a lifelong journey of exploration through yourself, our inner self, trying to discover who we are, our potential, our purpose in life, and what core principles are guiding us to take different paths along the way. The journey starts with self awareness then explores personal interest as well as hopes and dreams for the future. The journey initiates us to self knowledge which will enable us to guide ourselves towards situations in which we will thrive.
Self-discovery is a fundamental component of personal growth. We must take the time to discover who we are as a person. This is accomplished through self-reflection.
Self-reflection allows us to think about and examine our actions, preferences, feeling, values, beliefs, emotions, and tendencies. Since we are all different in the way we think, feel act, and perceive the world, it is beneficial to take the time to reflect in order to gain a better insight of ourselves. Self-discovery is a way for us to explore our individual personalities, natural preferences, values, beliefs, preferred styles and tendencies. The ultimate destination of this journey is finding out who we are and what makes us unique.
The journey to self-discovery starts off with revealing the experiences that have shaped us, be it good or bad. It means realizing what our beliefs are and living by them. The effects of self-discovery include happiness, fulfillment, clarity and maybe even enlightenment! The journey however is not always an easy road. Instead, It might seem the toughest journey you’ll ever have in your lifetime. The journey includes fear, confusion, misunderstanding, doubt and literally re-visiting all your choices in life. I like to refer to it as spring-cleaning of the mind, your emotions and your surroundings (including the people in your life). It requires making some tough decisions and sticking to them.
My journey so far has seen me cut people out of my life. Because they were my life « takers » to some extent. They were so because I allowed them to be as I let my life to revolve around them. But It wasn’t until I realized that most of theses relationships were one-sided that I decided to cut them out. It has also seen me completely change the course of my life and start to follow my true passion and purpose (this blog about self-improvement). I have also started to get intentions and no longer have expectations from others. This one was really hard for me and it’s still a work in progress.
What I know for sure is that the journey is worth taking. I am slowly becoming calmer, more aware and more tolerant. I am truly in discovery of the values within myself instead of searching them in other people’s judgements and expectations from me. I started to care less about the way people will assess me and direct my attention towards what I will truly feel within myself without considering people’s minds. This wasn’t until I’d read a novel by Raphaëlle Giordano, « Your second life begins when you realize you only have one ». It was #1 bestselling French novel about a woman whose mission to cure her « routine-itis » leads her to lasting joy and true fulfillment.
I realized that I have been very hard on myself for most of my life. I have not been truthful with myself and have had unrealistic expectations therefore, setting myself up for disappointment. Why do we do this? Why do we lie to ourselves? And more importantly, why do we allow ourselves to get away with it? When someone else lies to me and I find out about it I freak out. “How dare he lie to me? Does she think I’m stupid?” but, we lie to ourselves profusely and even cover up our own lies by accepting them as truth in order to reassure ourselves that it’s okay!
The morale is this … Stop being your own most enemy! Stop lying to yourself about your emotions and feelings and start accepting them and allowing yourself to feel whatever is it you feel. Start off immediately your journey towards discovering the very you that resides within yourself. The freedom you will savor is the biggest reward you’ll ever receive. And only then however, the universe will give you back the love that you have finally and justifiably started to give yourself. And I’ll end this article with this impressive saying by Plutarch:
What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. - Plutarch
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