From a very young age, we develop preferences toward and against certain things. In most cases, these are acquired through experiences with different things such as foods, environments, and situations. Though many of these will stick with us as part of what makes us individually who we are, some of our early developed preferences are worth revisiting to see if our feelings have changed. You need to figure out who you are today.
I want to share my experience with this because I have found quite a bit of opportunity for self-growth in revisiting some of the things that I had once written off.
I made a list of things that I found myself wishing I enjoyed or was into because “that would make things easier,” “that would open up more opportunities,” or thing where I found myself saying “I wish I were better at…”. I think you get my drift. When you catch yourself saying “I wish I liked…I wish I enjoyed…” Well, maybe you once didn’t but have you tried it again lately?
Here are some of the things I found I was missing out on:
- Drinking coffee
- Eating tomatoes, onions, bell peppers
- Watching scary movies
- Reading
- Writing
Think of things you’re interested in and revisit dislikes to figure out who you are and what you want
These are all things I either at one point didn’t like or thought I wasn’t any good at. Which guess what, made me not like them.
I often would see people meeting for coffee. I noticed that coffee is one of the only free beverages offered places other than water. And it would be so convenient “if only I drank coffee.” I thought that would make things easier at times and would also open up opportunities at other times. It popped up in my head often.
I got desperate on the Atkins diet and was so hungry I was willing to eat anything. So at that moment I decided I would try vegetables I was not a fan of, they were tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. To my surprise I liked them. This makes cooking and dining out much simpler these days!
I am married to someone who will watch terrifying movies without flinching. In fact, he really enjoys them. So recently, like really recently, I decided to see if I had a better tolerance for scary movies. Boom! A new opportunity to spend time with the hubby.
Reading, you know what? I just had to find what kind of books I liked. It turns out I love to read so long as it is the right kind of story! Now that I have found what draws me in. I am set. As it turns out, I don’t want to read fantasies with imaginary characters and storylines. If I’m reading, I want to learn something or at least learn about someone. I need to know it’s true or at least someone’s truth or be acquiring knowledge to apply. That’s me, I know I have found the right book when I can’t turn the pages fast enough.
Then there is writing, well I think that speaks for its self! I would never make it writing what others told me to write about, or that has to pass their idea of “good.” That is why I disliked it so badly while in school. But I found this amazing outlet called blogging, and I found a side of me I never knew existed. Truly, it has been the biggest game-changer in discovering who I actually am as a person. I understand myself and others so much better because of my privilege to write what I want, the way I want, when I want!
Figure out who you are so you can understand and maybe even, help others!
I say all of this ladies to say, look at yourself as a new person. Today you get to reestablish who you are, what you like, what you love, what you’ll never do again. Don’t accept who you have found yourself to be after all the years, go find out who you are today. Things you’ve been told you aren’t good at by yourself or others, bad experiences, long ago established preferences, reassess them all! Some will stick, and those preferences you know are real, they still make up who you are. But so many will be distant experiences that no longer apply.
Simply put, try new things and retry old things. See how you feel about them now. If someone had told me at eighteen that at almost forty years old I would be a coffee drinking, book reading, scary movie watching blogger, I would have been mortified of my future. (Once someone from the future told me what a blogger was!)
Now I can see through all of my experiences that I am in fact precisely who I am meant to be! Now it is time for you to go figure who you are and do it with purpose! I’m cheering you on!
What kinds of things have you let define you? Have you revisited them, if so what did you find out? Leave a reply in the comment box below! ⇓
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