Being yourself is celebrating you, as an individual – learning to express yourself and be happy with who you are. To do that you need to love yourself. If you don’t love yourself nobody else will. To be yourself, you need to know who you are! So listen to your inner voice. Try to understand what you are and what you want to do and what you want to be. Take time for yourself, make choices that will complement your personality. Also you need to understand what you don’t want to do and what you don’t want to be. Knowing what you want to do and what not to do will give you the direction which you have to take.
One of the most valuable and insightful questions you can ever ask yourself is, “Who am I?” Because in answering a question of this depth and importance, you’ll begin to see that who you are has nothing to do with your career, your business or what you do. The earlier you determine who you are, the easier it will be for you to reach and maintain your career.
It’s never too late to ask yourself, “who am i?” But it helps you to ask this question at an younger age, or when your are starting your career. It may be more difficult at a later age or when fully entrenched on a particular route, but it’s not impossible. If you don’t realize what you want to do, you will never be happy with your career. Too many people are unhappy at work, and this leads to a host of other problems, such as more missed work days, decreased productivity, and physical and mental health problems.
So ask the following questions yourself.
- What do you enjoy doing?
- What types of activities make you completely lose track of time?
- What are your hobbies?
- What did you enjoy doing as a child?
You should never consider what people will think of you, when you choose a particular career path. If you like cooking, do that, stop caring about how people will think of you. However, if someone you trust and respect criticizes you, pause a moment and valuate their comments and inputs. Be honest with yourself, but don’t beat yourself up; apply this philosophy to others, as well. There is a difference between being critical and being honest; learn to watch the way you say things to yourself and others when being honest. Being honest is to accept the realty and It means removing all guilt you have: guilt of hurting other people, guilt of doing something wrong. Accept that you are not perfect, and don’t be sorry for that.
Try to create your own personality than copying someone. Whether it’s your sense of style, or even your manner of speaking, if your preferred way of doing something strays from the mainstream, then be proud of it… unless it’s destructive to yourself or others.
You may find that you’re unable to make a change at this point in your life or career, and that’s okay, too. However, it may be worth your time to ensure that you engage in activities that satisfy the parts of yourself that you’re not able to use.
Believe in this idea and use that as your starting point. Love and accept yourself as you are now.