“Low self-confidence can certainly damage your life. If you are not assured in your skills and talents, you will be afraid of doing anything. Every act, every phrase, and every conversation will be a terrifying experience, each time.” – Richard Carroll

This was a quote I read recently and I thought many people should read this as well. We all want to be the better versions of ourselves and live a fulfilling life. Often advice on how to get that is about finding your passion or purpose, which is a piece of very good advice. The only problem here is that if you don’t know and, above all, don’t trust yourself, it will be pretty difficult to be sure about anything at all. This includes knowing what you really want to invest in when choosing which opportunities you should take.

The thing I’ve struggled with, and with me many others, was that I liked many things, but I didn’t know what it was that I absolutely loved. Besides that, I was afraid to go for one of those things I liked, in fear of missing out on the other things I also liked. I thought that if I would walk through one of those hundred doors, all the other doors would close and never open up again. 

To be able to find your passion and live your best life, it’s crucial to know yourself and, just as important, trust yourself. You’ve also probably heard about the phrase “know thyself”. According to some sources, this phrase had already been used by Socrates, and if people still use it after more than 2000 years, it must be useful. It can be interpreted in different ways, varying from knowing our limits and motivations to acknowledging our talents and truly accepting our shortcomings. These are all connected because to know our limits, we have to see and accept our shortcomings and to know what motivates us, we have to be aware of our talents.

So, how exactly do we get to know ourselves? I would say that it is by trial and error that we discover what we like and what we don’t like. Also, by making mistakes we experience what doesn’t work and we’ll have a chance to improve ourselves. It’s impossible to learn anything new if we don’t do things we’ve never done before. This means we have to get out of our comfort zone and start doing something we like (or we think we like) and gain experience! Also, we should stop worrying about what others might think. Haters will hate, but lovers will love. If you’re starting to ‘get out there’, you will gain fans and foes, but always try to stay positive.

I would like to hear about your experiences, so place a reaction below!