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What does it mean to know yourself? Do you know what your likes and dislikes are? How about what you value, believe in, and stand for?
Have you taken the time to sit down and get to know who you are? To explore the innermost part of your being? Knowing what questions to ask yourself helps you on your process of self-love.
To know yourself means that you know all the facets of who you are and what makes you such an incredible person. It is knowing what you like and what you don’t like. It is knowing the way that your mind works, the way that you think, and the way you operate.
Knowing yourself is knowing what your gifts and your strengths are. It is knowing your personality type and all of the characteristics that make you uniquely you.
Why don’t I know who I am?
Many of us don’t know who we are because we have never been taught to know ourselves. As young children, many of us were never taught who we were as individuals, but instead taught how to fit in.
School systems never taught us who we are, and often never embraced us as individual human beings. To no fault of their own, most of our parents didn’t teach us about self-identity.
We were taught how to think, how to act, and what to say according to the standards of the world. Oftentimes our personal identity was dismissed and made to feel like something was wrong with us if we were different.
As we grew up we continued to look at what the world was saying about us, and that created the lens through which we see ourselves. We were never taught who God said we were, especially those who were raised in a religious church. This ignorance taught us to dismiss many attributes of ourselves and at times to be someone that we aren’t.
Why should I learn who I am?
It is important to learn who you are because that is the best self you can be. That is the truest self you can be, and the most powerful self you can be. It is when we break free of seeing ourselves through the world’s lens and start seeing ourselves through God’s lens that we become free.
It’s then that we start to understand ourselves and start to see that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. When we start to put the pieces of ourselves together we can finally see the big picture of who we are.
This process of learning who you are brings healing. When you start to know who you are confusion starts to go away and allows you to move through the process of self-love.
How do I learn who I am?
The first part of learning who you are is learning what God has said about you.
The second part of learning who you are is to spend intentional time with yourself answering the questions below. Take the time to answer each question and make sure you are answering it honestly.
Do not answer it how you think others would answer it for you. Do not be ashamed of any of your answers. You can start with the easiest questions first and then go on to the harder ones if needed.
Or start with the hard questions first. Answer them and whatever order works best for you. There are no right or wrong answers unless you are not being truthful.
Questions to ask yourself
Print off this list of questions, grab your favorite notebook and writing utensils, and answer each question fully and honestly.
- What are my likes and dislikes?
- What is my personality type?
- What is my communication style?
- What is my learning style?
- What are my strengths?
- What are my spiritual gifts?
- Am I an introvert or extrovert?
- Am I a talker or listener?
- What things do I do that are easy (natural) for me to do?
- What do I enjoy doing?
- What qualities do other people see in me?
- What motivates me?
- What societal issues make me angry?
- What problem(s) do I wish I could change?
- What brings me joy?
- What are some of my favorite things? (Food, Color, Vacation, Movie, etc.)
- What do I believe is specifically holding me back?
- What subjects in school were easy or enjoyable to me?
- What would I want to do for the rest of my life that would make me happy?
- What do I value? Believe in?
- What do I want to accomplish in my life?
- What makes me happy?
- Am I an early bird or a night owl?
- What descriptive words would I use for myself?
APPLICATION
Make a list of all the different traits about yourself.
What do these observations show you about yourself?
ANY QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions or would like additional information, please leave a comment below.
This is a really thorough list! I think it’s also worth noting that we need to get to know ourselves periodically throughout our lives. Some things about us stay the same and some things change, and that’s okay. It’s taken me years to understand that changing your mind about your goals isn’t the same as failure.
You are absolutely right and that is such a great point! There are definitely some things that change overtime and there is nothing wrong with that.
Amazing post! Very helpful especially for self love and self discovery. I’ll try to use some of these questions in my journal. Thank you for sharing
You’re welcome, I’m glad you found it useful!
This is a really thorough list!
Thank you!
Your words are beautiful! They really help people connect with your point and I felt great reading them! Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind words!