Who am I? Many of us have heard this question in many phases of our lives. For example from an interviewer, while chatting with friends etc. In school, our teacher asked us a question, “What do you want to become when you grow up?” All of us had different answers.
Some said doctors, and engineers, while others showed interest in becoming teachers, pilots etc. Personally, this question always made me nervous. Because I didn’t know my calling back then, my sole purpose in life.
The Question
Now why I mentioned this question… because both the former and latter questions are very much related. You have to have a complete understanding of yourself before you decide your calling. Things that you are good at, what are your good qualities and bad qualities etc.
We didn’t think much about all this and just said what we liked. For example, if we had a favorite teacher, we wanted to become a teacher when we grew up. We used to see planes flying by in the sky, which seemed interesting so we wanted to become pilots.
But as we grow up, this question becomes a burden to us, a reason for stress. Sometimes we have something in our mind, but because of our parents, money concerns, or not having the required qualifications for the field, we choose to do something else, and with time we forget what we had dreamed of becoming when we were kids.
I believe those who had one goal in mind throughout their life and they achieved that goal and became that person……. are something and they have a clear understanding of themselves and their strengths and weaknesses.
Easy Answer?
The answer to the question…who am I? is not that simple. I observed in my life that the answer changes every time we grow as a person. Growth means not only physical growth but also mental, emotional, and perhaps spiritual growth.
As we grow, we gain new experiences and learn new skills, so our view of who we are changes. So those who can keep the dream in their heart and mind throughout their transformation phase (from a kid to an adult), are some of the most unique people in existence.
Importance of Who Am I
The answer may not be that simple, but I have found some ways to get close to the answer. And why this question is important? Because if you want to become successful in your life you need the answer. If you want to understand someone you need the answer, if you want to raise your child or children you need the answer.
If we don’t have a fraction of an understanding of who we are. How will we be able to understand the world around us?
Now the time we are living in… we usually forget about ourselves and try to become someone else, we try to copy those who are successful, and nowadays what is trending, we try to mimic those things, there is just one problem with this, doing this, we slowly become fake or duplicates, having no understanding of ourselves, and when we get old we will think, why didn’t I do that? Become that?
Now the ways that I have found useful may help you or may not. After all, all of us are different, so what worked for me may not work for you. Regardless, I would like to share them with you…here are the following ways:
List of Ways to Find Out Who AM I
1. Spend as much time as possible by yourself
Now I know this is an obvious thing, but spending time alone helps a lot in knowing who you are. When you are with your family, friends, relatives, etc., you behave differently, think differently, and talk differently according to them. But when you are alone, you can be yourself you don’t have to pretend and everything around you is silent.
So to fill that silence your mind will start to speak. It is initially very irritating because when the mind speaks, it only speaks negative things, things that will make you overthink but if you bear with it, through your thoughts (the thoughts you are having) you will slowly start to analyze the type of person you are.
2. Observe your likes and dislikes
It means the things you like, which can be anything from movies to books to people to characters. The simplest way to find out is to think about which movie is on your mind after watching it… specifically, which part… if you like a character, why do you like that character…..specifically which of his/her traits do you like the most, with which particular lyrics of a song you connect the most, etc.
But knowing your likes is only half of the job done; you have to have a clear understanding of your dislikes too. It is believed by me there can be two reasons for our dislikes. Either we want those disliked traits in ourselves but can’t have them so we get jealous and hate those traits when we see them in others. Or we have them inside of us but we simply don’t like those traits about us.
3. Listing your strengths and weaknesses
Things that you are good at and the things that you are bad at, things that you can’t do but want to learn, keep a list. This point not only helps you with your self-discovery but also with the second question that I asked earlier in the reading. This list also helps you before you involve yourself with any task.
It will help you to know if you have the specific skillset and knowledge to properly execute a task or not. Saves a lot of time and reduces your chances of failure.
Conclusion
The three ways that I mentioned above are the most common and can help anyone. There are many others, but they vary from person to person. To be honest, even after doing all these, there is no guarantee one will have a perfect answer, but it will help you to walk through the world with a better understanding of yourself.
One will feel much more confident, secure, and relaxed because, for the first time in a long while, that person knows who they are and what they want. And they can set a goal and pave a path to reach that goal. They will know what they want and they will get it.
I want to conclude by saying… Who am I?… It may be the easiest question to ask… but the hardest to answer!
Thank you for staying until the end!
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