How does one come to know oneself? How do they find out who they are?

[BCRanger10]

How does a person come to truly know his or her self? What has been your experience and insight with coming to know yourself?

[Taurus_Woman]

Getting to know yourself isn’t something that happens all at once, it’s more like a slow process of noticing, questioning, and learning over time. One way it starts is by paying attention to what feels natural to you. The things you enjoy without forcing yourself, the situations where you feel most like “yourself,” and the moments where you feel uncomfortable or out of place all give clues about who you are.

Another part is reflection. When you look back at your choices, what you said yes to, what you avoided, what you regretted, you start to see patterns. Those patterns often say more about you than any label ever could.

It also comes through experience. Meeting different people, trying new things, failing, succeeding, and even changing your mind all shape your understanding of yourself. You don’t discover a fixed identity, you build awareness of how you respond to life.

And sometimes, it’s also about unlearning. Letting go of expectations from others, or ideas you picked up without questioning, helps you separate what is truly yours from what was just influence.

In the end, “finding yourself” is less about reaching a final answer and more about staying honest with what you notice along the way.

[DishLady]

Aaaaah. A very deep philosophical question.

• Some of it (from birth to death) is organic trial and error till you know things you like/dislike, are good/bad at, etc.
• Some is organically observing who you surround yourself with and discovering the traits they like about you.
• Some of it is book-learning or media-related -- stuff you wouldn't normally be exposed to based on where you live, your family, etc.
• Some of it is meditative -- stuff you think about when everyone's away/asleep and the world is peaceful for a second or two before you have to get up and go through the whole forensic discovery again: Who am I? What do I want in my life? What do I want for my family? Why are these people my family? What can I do to be good (or the best version of myself)? etc. etc. etc. till kingdom come... Amen.

I once asked my Mama if we ever have a day of peace and she said YES, there IS one day... the one that we're buried. (Hmm... not the answer I was hoping for... I thought it would ultimately be a sunny day poolside listening to my playlist.)

[SixFootSexy]

To start, everyone creates or is handed a Story they are part of. You have Incentives to stay in and build on that story. You want to be in the tribe, so you follow the Systems to live in that tribe.

Experiential, existential, and values. Most people want to be handed a script of what to think, do and believe in. Which is why so many gullible evangelicals still believe in Trump's MAGA despite overwhelming evidence that he doesn't give a rat's bootyhole about them. It gives them a sense of belonging, purpose and belief. In a false god of a surrogate religion, otherwise known as politics.

[exitseven]

It comes with living the extra days. How you react to hardship, and adversity. How you handle an emergency, or how you handle failure.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO😎

[midnightmoon05]

My hubby. He explained a lot about my personality. So I learned and reflected. He is a lot more self conscious of what he does. He also went to therapy so he learned a lot about himself.

[AngryCarl3]

I'm not sure I want to know myself. What if I'm a horrible person?

[Agape93]

I found out what I am through trials

[Jen_oic]

@BCRanger10

I know myself