The idea of this article is to get you to know yourself and have the courage to live life as exactly who you were meant to be, being true to your core values, and coming to peace with it all. It is to understand what makes you different, and as you do that, you get to know yourself better.

   

     Knowing yourself is your first priority. It's important to be a self-aware person. Engaging in self-reflection isn’t a luxury, it is a necessity. Not knowing yourself will lead to confusion and wasting much time in hit and miss situations.

   

    The most beautiful thing you will ever witness in your life is when you begin to unfold into the person you were meant to be from your very beginning. To be authentic or to be an authentic self is to have consistency in one’s beliefs, values, and actions. It is to act without pretense and false airs.

     Knowing yourself is beyond figuring out your favorite color or your favorite subject in school or your favorite music album. It is the process of understanding you – the human being – on deeper levels than the surface. It is an unpredictable road that you must be willing to explore. It brings you face-to-face with your deep self-doubts and insecurities. It makes you take a serious look at the way you are living your life and put it to question.

     Knowing yourself means respecting your values in life, your beliefs, your personality, your priorities, your moods, your habits, your magnificent body, and your relationships. It means understanding your strengths and weaknesses, your passions and fears, your desires and dreams, your likes and dislikes, and your tolerances and limitations. It is your purpose in life.

    Knowing yourself is a conscious effort; you do it with intention and purpose. You do not get to know yourself simply by growing up and growing old.

    When we know ourselves better, we’re able to make smarter decisions about what’s best for us. We’re able to create more satisfying lives – lives that are based on our core values and personal priorities

Here are some thoughts to consider to help you in this journey and hopefully might be helpful.

How to Get to Know Yourself in 6 proven Steps:

        1. Get to Know Your Personality

Understanding your own personality is really important. You have the collective opinion of others which is one aspect. You also have your own database of information about what your personality is really like, and who you are in your private moments as well as in your public ones.

The idea is to get to know your personality inside out, to know what you are and what you are not like. Understand what makes you react a certain way in life’s myriad of situations. Ask yourself “Why did I do that?” and answer it. Who are you behind your name? What are your characteristic traits? Who are you among friends? What about strangers? What persona do you portray to the outside world?

What are you really like on a good day as well as a bad day, in face of a challenge or a great reward? How do you react to the world around you?

       2. Realize that you do not have to justify your worth.

The truth is that everyone is worthy of love, respect, and kindness.

Get to Know Your Core Values

Your core values are the morale codes and the principles you hold near and dear to your heart. When I work with my clients, one of the first things I ask prior to our coaching sessions is a list of their top eight core values.

You probably have more than eight values, but the top eight play the big roles in decision-making, influencing, persuading, conflict-resolution, communication, and living your day-to-day life.

In your work, in your home, in all aspects of your life, which values can you never compromise? Those are your core values.

Is it honesty, integrity, security or flexibility? Is it dedication to others, wisdom and learning, financial comfort or fun? Do you value loyalty above excellence, responsibility above ambition, or innovation above improvement?

           2. Take time to try different things to figure out what you enjoy.

Try new things out. This will provide you with a greater insight into what the real you actually enjoys, and you’ll have lots of fun along the way.

Get to Know Your Body

How well do you know your body, your breathing, your abilities, your limits of balance and flexibility? Try out physical challenges and take the time to become truly intimate with the loveliest temple on earth, your own body.

Get to Know your Dreams

Your dreams and hopes create the pathway into your future. They help you build the life you can be proud of living. And start getting to know your dreams well. Get to know the details and the specifics. Make your dreams part of your daily pursuits. Take them seriously. Work at them. Glorify them instead of hiding them and being ashamed of them.

Get to Know your Likes and Dislikes

What do you like and just as important, what do you dislike? This will give you a lot of confidence into who you are. Take the time to define your likes and dislikes, Defining your own likes and especially dislikes takes guts. If you keep doing frustrates you and neglect what brings you joy, you give up part of who you are. It’s the least likely path to any happiness whatsoever.

           3. Let go of expectations.

This was probably one of the most important things I did. It was hard to let go of the idealized image of what university and my life were going to be like, which had been instilled in my head for years. But once I was able to, it was easier to accept things for what they were, without feeling like my whole world was crumbling before me.

     4. Look after yourself.

When you’re finding things tough and questioning who you are and where you’re going, it’s important to take some time out to practice a bit of self-care. For me, this usually means getting lost in a great novel, having a warm shower, and getting at least eight hours of sleep.

After this, my thoughts become less erratic and I feel a lot calmer and more ready to face any challenges ahead.

          5. Know that fitting in is overrated.

I have learned that you are very lucky if you have a few close friends.

At school particularly, it can sometimes seem that belonging to a group is the most important thing, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that true friends won’t leave you on a whim. And they should love you for your amazing unique qualities rather than your “role” to the group.

Be yourself and you’ll attract authentic friendships into your life.

         6. Remember that your life is not set in stone.

Life is full of opportunities. Any time spent regretting missed ones allows less time to enjoy the opportunities that are presenting themselves right now!

 It isn’t worth living a lie and being untrue to who you are, no matter how crazy, how eccentric, how uncommon, how different you may be. You are who you are. The earlier in life you accept this and get on with it, the easier and sweeter you shall live out your days.

 Let’s start embracing it instead of hiding it under the covers. You won’t miss the lie you are living, because living true to yourself is the real paradise.