Discover the Real You

The way you see and feel about yourself influences what you do with your life.

Just how often do you hear the question – What would you like to be in the future?

The teenage years are a foundation period for whatever one wants to become in life – a time for developing the knowledge and skills necessary for independent living. The process of developing specific goals for ones’ future is known as life-planning.

However, the life-planning process cannot successfully begin if you are not aware of your personal qualities, abilities, interests, and limitations.

Self-knowledge is an accumulation of thoughts and feelings about the things we are able to do, the things we like/enjoy and the things we are not so good at. This is what forms the basis for any meaningful life planning because it is only when you know who you are as a person that you can really focus on what you want and need in your life.

To start off properly on this voyage of self-discovery you might want to do the exercise on this page.

Looking at myself

Take a sheet of paper and write the questions as they are on the chart, Looking at myself. Fill in the answers as honestly as possible, giving adequate thought to each question before putting pen to paper.

How do others see me?

Take another sheet of paper and fill in the comments of the corresponding persons the way they are outlined in the chart, How others see me. Ask two of your friends, one of your parents and another member of your family either a brother or sister to list five words each that they would use to describe you.

Compile the information from the two exercises to make a write-up about yourself. At the end, you will have a good picture of who you really are. Do you like what you see?

Remember, that all human beings are made up of many parts, some parts we like and some, we don’t like. We can either learn to accept the parts we don’t like or change them – we have a choice. However, by placing emphasis on the parts we like, we will feel more confident in ourselves and this will also enhance our ability to accomplish more.

The next edition of Growing Up will feature another important step in the life planning process.

LOOKING AT MYSELF

HOW OTHERS SEE ME