Finding yourself again involves a path of inner growth, the desire to get involved and not be afraid to discover our deepest essence.
Throughout life, there are some experiences that make us lose our way. It can be a drastic change in the workplace, the end of a love affair or serious problems in the family: all this does not change the result. You feel as if you no longer have a purpose and as if you exist without fully living. In a situation like this, you have to find yourself: it is not always a simple path, but one that leads to a more than positive result, especially if you face it with stubbornness and an important “dose” of self-esteem.
How to find yourself?
If and when you perceive that you have lost the real you, we advise you to follow this journey of personal research that will not only make you find yourself but that will show you your strengths and qualities that you were not aware of until now.
1. Get to know yourself
“Knowing oneself means knowing all one’s aspects, all one’s potential: the murderer, the sinner, the criminal, the saint, the virtue, the god, the devil; know all aspects, the full range of possibilities. ”
Osho
We are often so busy getting to know and relating to others that we leave out the most important person, which is ourselves. For example, have you ever wondered if, at this point in your life, you are truly satisfied with how you are conducting it? Or, have you ever thought, “Is this really what I want from my future?” To answer this series of questions and to truly understand who you are, the starting point and the best way to rewrite and outline a “map” that retraces your existence. It is a real inner search that goes from what you have always liked to do to your goals, even those that, for one reason or another, you have had to put aside over time.
In addition to this, try to draw an image of yourself that does not take into account the opinion of others. You are not what everyone else thinks, also because it often happens that they do not even know who you really are and what essence is behind the appearance.
2. Prepare for a new start
“What lies behind us and what lies in front of us are very little compared to what is inside us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
For whatever reason you have lost your way and feel the need to find yourself, there is always a new beginning waiting for you. This new phase of your life can involve one or more aspects. For example, you might take the opportunity to end a habit or habit you might be doing without, such as smoking. On the other hand, all of this can give you the impetus to start something you always wanted to do but which, for various reasons, from lack of time to “fear,” you have never been able to start. From a certain sports activity to a recreational hobby such as art or music: finding oneself also means listening to one’s mind and heart, giving more space to what we perceive and do not think rationally.
3. Stay and travel alone
“There is only one corner of the universe that you can be sure of improving and that is your own self.”
Aldous Leonard Huxley
In the first step of this journey, you have already explored your inner self without taking into account the opinions and judgments of others that inevitably condition us. Thus, in order to continue on this path and to achieve your purpose, it is necessary that you spend some time in complete solitude. With this, we do not intend to always close and isolate ourselves in your world, but that every day you can dedicate a few hours only to yourself, without external conditioning. One of the best ways is certainly to immerse yourself and stay in contact with nature, where you can empty your mind from accumulated negative energies and acquire positive ones.
Then, if you have the opportunity, there is nothing better than traveling alone. A trip alone in the company of yourself can be ideal for focusing on yourself without any distraction and for getting in touch with new realities. By doing so, you will not only get to know and understand yourself further but also give vent to your curiosity to discover and learn.
In general, spending time in solitude, both during a trip and in one’s daily life, strongly stimulates creativity and is essential to be able to distinguish the people we really want in our life and who, instead, we wish to move away from.
4. Change your perspective
“Others may give you a name or a number, but they can never tell you who you really are. That’s something you can only discover yourself from within. ”
Thomas Merton
As already mentioned, once you begin to know and find yourself, it is important not to be influenced by what others think and also by what they want. During this journey of inner research, you will surely have noticed that one cannot live trying only to satisfy the desires of others. Otherwise, one would inevitably give up one’s own. Start first by recognizing the people who really matter to you and detaching yourself from those who ask all the time, making you feel overwhelmed.
Next, try to change your perspective on life. In particular, he tries to abandon that negative vision that does not allow beauty to be grasped even in small things. Likewise, always test yourself, facing the challenges that are presented to you every day without fear and with positivity. Pushing your limits and stepping out of your comfort zone can make you discover things about yourself that you never imagined.
5. Help others
“Only by knowing myself, that is, knowing my interiority, can I speak to the interiority of the other.”
Susanna Tamaro
When you are grappling with a personal search, you tend to detach yourself from the outside world and from reality, focusing on yourself and who you want to be. This detachment, however, must be temporary because it is essential to re-enter that world. Mahatma Gandhi himself said that “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in serving others.” In fact, being isolated for too long in one’s inner space and in one’s mind can lead to a selfish attitude and completely unaware of those around us.
Therefore, if before all your attention was on yourself, now you can go back to opening yourself to others. As you do so, you will notice greater awareness because you will know exactly who you are, what you want from life and how to behave when you are in contact with other people. In particular, after having personally spent a moment of bewilderment, you will be able to help all those who find themselves in a similar situation and show them the way forward. Helping and doing something where it is needed will not only support others, it will make you feel good too. That you finally know now.
