chapter one—know yourself

For many, one of the most difficult people that we can get to know is ourselves. We struggle sometimes to be able to define who we are, what we stand for, and what it is that makes us the truly wonderful and unique individual we are.

 

If you are going to travel a long distance with someone, wouldn’t you want to know as much about the person you will be spending this much time with as possible? How well do we actually know ourselves? We spend more time with ourselves than any other person or group of people in the world, but yet do we truly know this particular person? To prove this point, take five minutes right now and write down your top ten strengths.

 

1. ________________________________
2. ________________________________
3. ________________________________
4. ________________________________
5. _______________________________

 

If that was a simple task, then congratulations, you have a great understanding of who you are and what makes you a unique individual. If this process was a little daunting or if you felt uneasy or uncomfortable doing this, then you need to realize that getting to know yourself is one of the greatest explorations you can make.

 

Think about how hard it would be to introduce someone that you don’t know very well, you will probably have difficulty telling others who they are, what they do, what they stand for, and myriad other bits of information that would be useful to the person you are making the introduction to. Hopefully you will at least be able to get their name pronounced correctly. It is the same for ourselves, we need to be able to describe who we are and what we stand for in no uncertain terms. We need to have an elevator pitch (a thirty to sixty second commercial about ourselves) ready to present to others about ourselves. There are many things that contribute to making us just who we are. Some of these are engrained into us at a very early age, others are developed very slowly over time. Our parents, family, friends, and acquaintances help to form the person we are. Whether these components are right or wrong, we are who we are and we have to work with what we have. Somethings about ourselves we won’t ever want to change, yet others we may want to make improvements on.

 

We will take a look at our values, beliefs, and morals and see how these fundamentals are the foundation that we build the person that we are upon. We will also see that what allows us to be happy and or sad and what brings us joy or anxiety also become part of who we are at a foundational level.