I have had a period of feeling lost in life because I didn’t know what my purpose was. During that time, I was constantly overthinking, which led to frustration, exhaustion, mental depletion, and a lack of energy to do anything else.
Day after day, I find myself immersed in thoughts about myself, not knowing what I truly like, not knowing what my goals and dreams are, and not knowing how to understand myself better.
That made me feel lost, tired, exhausted, not wanting to interact, talk to other people. Every day I isolate myself more, I don’t understand myself, and then I don’t want to make any effort to do anything else in life, when I’m so exhausted I just fall asleep.
My life keeps repeating itself, and gradually I feel like it doesn’t have any meaning.
Only when there are unforeseen events, things that I did not expect, things that appear new in my life, it turns my previous life upside down, making me feel things that I had never experienced in my previous life.
After going through all that, I realized that my life is meaningful in many ways. I finally understood that the things I have been thinking about all along, the answers I needed have always been right in front of me, I just didn’t realize it back then.
Now I know how to understand myself better, find goals, and dreams that I want to pursue.
I think many of you, like me, have experienced a period of feeling lost, not knowing “who I am”. But eventually, you have found the answers to those questions, understood yourselves better, and found a happy life.
But there are also many people who are currently stuck in that cycle, sinking into their own thoughts without being able to escape, and then their spirits become weakened and no longer want to do anything else. Gradually losing themselves, being wrapped up in others, and enduring that life even though they don’t feel happy.
That’s why I wrote this blog with the desire to share a journey that helped me understand myself better, which I realized during that difficult time. I hope that what I share here will help you somewhat in understanding yourself better, helping you find value in your own life.
1. Add new things to your “painting“
Imagine your life as a painting, if the things you are seeking are not present in that painting, you will never find them. Or if those things have not yet taken on a specific form and are only at the sketching stage, you will not recognize them either.
That is why, seek additional ideas and sources of inspiration from other paintings, from outside of your painting, to envision many possibilities for your artwork. Add different colors to “your painting,” these colors could be:
+ New friends.
+ New knowledge.
+ New activities.
+ Things that you’ve never tried before.
( And of course, without violating the law ;3 )
Don’t worry about whether you like it or not, because what you need to do is stop thinking and just give it a try. All of those things will make your “picture” messy and not as it used to be.
Those things will help you have new thoughts, new perspectives, and new feelings about things that you would never see if you always stayed in your old life.
“A same formula will never yield different results.“.
If you continue to maintain a life like that,
then what you receive will not change.
So do not let laziness, difficulties, hesitation, and fear prevent you from stepping out of your current life, to seek new things in life, to understand yourself better, to find your own worth, to find your own happiness.
2. Take time to talk and listen to yourself
2.1. What will happen when you no longer spend time for yourself?
After experiencing many things you have never felt before. The joys you have never had, the pains you have never suffered, meeting people with a very beautiful “painting” and also people who cannot even have a complete piece of paper for their “painting”. Then you realize that your previous life was so boring.
And at the same time, you will also realize that there are too many things in this life that you want, you will be swept away by those fleeting desires, you will be wrapped up in the beauty of other “paintings,” and then you will have no time for your own painting, and once again you will be lost in a pile of chaotic things.
Gradually, you will forget the person inside yourself, forgetting the things that make you truly happy in life, to pursue fleeting emotions and pleasures.
And then at some point in the future, you will realize that you have wasted time, health, and money on things that are not worth the value you have put into them, and then you will feel very regretful about it.
2.2. The things you gain when talking, listening to yourself..
That’s why, whenever you experience something, always take a moment to dedicate some time for yourself during the day, in a quiet environment, where there is only you and yourself, to talk, to tell yourself what you have been through.
At this time, just say what you think, speak of what you experience, both the happy and the sad, express your doubts, what makes you upset, don’t hide anything because you are talking to yourself. Speak out loud, or you can write it down on paper and read it.
What you recount is also how your brain is shaping, rearranging what you are thinking, experiencing, and from that, you will gain insights, find answers to things that puzzle you.
In addition, you should relax your body and mind, contemplate, think about the things you’ve been through, and then you will feel the most genuine emotions from within yourself. That’s how you can talk and listen to yourself.
Listening to yourself will help you understand what you like, what you hate, what is best for you, what is harmful to you, your strengths, your weaknesses, your dreams, your goals, what truly brings you happiness. From there, you will have your own perspective and will not be pushed around by life indefinitely.
In other words, it will help you understand yourself better.
3. Open up and share your thoughts with someone you trust.
This is quite similar to talking to yourself, with the only difference being that instead of speaking to yourself, you are conversing with someone else. This someone else could be your friends, family, your significant other, someone who makes you feel comfortable and close when talking, someone you trust.
When talking to yourself, you can take the time to self-analyze, contemplate life, and process emotions in private. But when speaking to others, you can share your emotions, thoughts, life, and experiences with the person in front of you.
In addition, the person you share with will also listen, share their own stories, thoughts, perspectives, knowledge, and provide sincere advice for you.
From there, you will have new perspectives, you will learn about the hidden corners of yourself that you have never realized before, those things will help you a lot in understanding yourself better.
Not only that, sharing and confiding with each other will also help both of them understand each other better, making their relationship closer and more intimate.
4. Foster your imagination and creativity.
Cultivating your imagination and creativity is crucial because as you understand yourself better and learn more about different aspects of yourself, your imagination and creativity are what will help you develop and explore all the great potential within you.
It is what makes you enjoy what you are doing even more, making your goals clearer and more meaningful.
It’s something that helps you to find new methods, new ways of thinking, and new changes that quickly help you achieve your goals.
And at the same time, this will also create more new and interesting things for you in your life. It allows you to imagine the new things that you can add to your own “picture”.
When you have ideas, just start working on them. Those actions will help you gain new experiences, new perspectives, and that is exactly the first thing I told you above
“1. Add new things to your “painting“.
*** Conclusion
Understanding oneself is a process similar to learning, and this process will never end. It will continue to repeat, because every time we learn new things, as time passes and our age changes, as society changes and affects our lives, our thoughts and desires also change accordingly.
That’s why we need to constantly repeat that process to understand ourselves better, then we will never lose ourselves.
