Myths About Finding Yourself - Page 14

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I know that the term “finding yourself” has taken on a cheesy meaning because of all of the books and teenage girls sharing one pair of jeans or women traveling to India post-divorce and emotionally connecting to a Peacock. But, cheesy media aside, we do all have to find ourselves. Whether we like to admit it or not, we all do find ourselves eventually. Even men of the toxic masculinity variety who never discuss feelings will find themselves (they just won’t talk about it that way). What does it mean to find yourself? I like to think that, when we’re children, we are the most in touch with ourselves. We don’t know anything about fears. We don’t know much about being insecure. We haven’t encountered the concept of the “cool kids” or magazines telling us how to lose weight. We just ask ourselves, “What feels good to me, right now?” and we do that. Of course, we can’t behave like that forever because society would collapse. But, between having our hearts broken and trying to fit in, we lose ourselves somewhere along the line. And we have to find ourselves again, while still carrying on as responsible adults. Here are misunderstandings about finding yourself.

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You have to travel far away

You do not need to quit your job and travel across the world to a remote area where nobody owns an iPhone and spend time with silent monks in order to find yourself. That is very expensive, and not possible for most people. You can find yourself in your home, amongst your regular friends and family. It’s all about getting more in touch with what feels right and wrong to you. You are no more in touch with that in Thailand than you are in your apartment.