One of the gifts I received from traveling was discovering who I truly am. I came back from Thailand a different person. Not different in a bad way, different in a good way. I was brighter, happier, and more confident. Apparently, there is a constant glow emanating from me. I was owning and loving who I was and my friends were dying to know my secret to discovering myself. Here are 5 tips to discover yourself and find your bliss:
1. Get out of your normal environment. Travel out of the country. If you need an immediate change, drive a little out of town. Head to the beach. Go for a hike. Explore a small town. Go to a B&B. Change of environment is a valid form of therapy. Often times, we are stuck in our rut of going to the same job, the same coffee shops, seeing the same things day in and day out. Go somewhere that is completely different from your current environment to get space and allow yourself the time to decompress and destimulate from those things that stress you out.
2. Meet new people. Connect. Listen to their stories and learn from them. Ask people to tell you their story. Some people you will connect with; some people you won’t. But you can learn from each person and discover what you like, what you dislike, whether you want to be around that kind of person or around someone different. Find people who are like-minded. Who excites you? Who brings out the best in you? Who makes you feel inhibited? Who tickles your fancy? Who do you see eye to eye with? What stories resonate with you?
3. Put down your phone. Unplug. Life is happening all around you, not only on social media. While it is important to stay connected, discovering yourself starts to happen when you are experiencing life right here right now. Observe the world in front of you. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell? What excites you about your surroundings? What do you not like? Make a note of things that do light up your eyes and begin doing more of those activities. If you are addicted to social media like I am, allot only 30 minutes twice a day to check it and upload pictures. Then put your phone away. Or put it on airplane mode so you are not tempted to check it.
4. Journal. Start making a list of things that you do like, things that you are grateful for, and things that you discover about yourself. Reflection is always important and keeping a log of it will help you analyze your actions to determine what you love most about yourself.
5. Listen to your intuition and gut. Once you have removed yourself from the triggers of your current environment, you can start tapping into your intuition more. What does it say? How do you like to feel? What do you like to do most? When do you feel most free? When do you have the most fun? Take a moment and ask yourself these questions. Journal it out.
6. Confront your fears. Take some time to reflect. What about your life is working? What isn’t working? What is your fear? Do you have a fear of never finding love? Not being good enough? Never achieving success? Own up and acknowledge that fear. Once you acknowledge what you are afraid of, you can start to find solutions to conquer that fear.
7. Embrace who you are, flaws and all. Be kind to yourself. What kind of things are you saying to yourself? If you are constantly putting yourself down, ask yourself: Would I allow my best friend to say these things to me? If not, then stop saying them to yourself! You are your own best friend. Love yourself, and more people will fall in love with you. People are a lot kinder than you may think. Yes, there are always going to be naysayers and people being a**holes to you, but for the most part, we all know that we are not perfect. And that’s what makes us special. So accept yourself as you are. With makeup or without. Clothes matching or completely clashing. Who cares? What matters is if you are coming from a genuine place. Where you are acting from your heart and your soul. People love others who are genuine and real. So… Just be you. You are enough.
8. Try something new. Do something you’ve never done before. This is all about discovering what really excites you and lights your heart on fire! Try new food, take a pottery class, go sky diving, sing a song at a karaoke bar, try on clothes you normally wouldn’t wear, snorkel with some sharks, visit a temple, talk to someone you normally wouldn’t talk to. Do something out of the ordinary. You just might discover a new passion you never thought of before!
9. Live in the present moment. Here’s an easy way to get into the present moment: take a walk and start observing the things around you. Ask yourself: What do I see? What do I notice? Answer the question. I see a… red car. Good! I see… a cute dog. Good! I see… the waves crashing into the sand. Good! Notice things close to you. Notice things far away from you. Keep doing that until you feel that you are in the current moment. You’ll start to realize where you physically are. When we are bogged down with life and stress, we tend to go into our heads worrying about this and that. Once that happens, we are no longer in the present moment. We are either pining about the past or freaking out about the future. Neither of which is helpful in discovering who we are in this present moment.
10. Relax. Meditate. Just watch the waves lap against the shore or watch people walking down the street for 5-10 minutes. Allow your mind to focus on what is in front of you and release it from worrying about what is behind you or ahead of you. Again, begin to focus on what is in front of you. Give your mind a chance to relax. Allow your intuition to speak up. Once you release your grip on your problems or worries, your inner genius will start to work and before you know it, inspiration will pop into your head. Solutions will start to appear as you explore the sights around you.
What things have you done to help you discover yourself? Leave your experiences in the comment section below. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Much love,
Alicia
