Who Are You? Ten Questions to Ask Yourself to Find Out
Have you ever wondered who you are? It’s a philosophical question that we’ve all asked ourselves at some time or another. It involves thinking about your own identity and its meaning. However, how do you find out who you are?
In this article, we give you ten questions to ask yourself in order to discover who you are. Through each of them, you’ll find out a little more about yourself. In fact, you’ll increase your self-knowledge. In other words, you’ll get to know more about how you feel, what values you have, and, ultimately, who you are.
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”
-Marilyn Monroe-
Ten questions to find out who you are
We ask you ten questions that’ll help you investigate yourself in different ways in order to discover who you are.
1. How would you describe yourself in three words?
When it comes to discovering who you are, it’s important to delve into your self-concept. This is the image you have of yourself. Therefore, ask yourself how you’d describe yourself.
What three words would you use? They can be adjectives, values, characteristics, or personality traits. However, remember that this is only part of you. It’s the vision you have of yourself.
2. If a relationship or job makes you unhappy, do you stay or leave it?
This question (or rather, its answer), is linked to your coping strategies, your boundaries, your values, and your priorities. Consequently, it also says a lot about you.
It isn’t the same to stay in an unhappy relationship or job, as to leave it. What are you like in these kinds of situations? What do you tend to do?
3. What are your core values?
Values encompass all those principles, virtues, and qualities that you believe are important or indispensable in your life, in the people you meet, in your actions, and the things that surround you.
We all have certain values. For example, sacrifice, effort, love, loyalty, justice, and morality.
These values say a lot about you since they reflect what you give importance to in your life. In fact, they’re another part of you and they’ll help you find out who you are.
4. What’s your purpose in life?
What’s your purpose in life? Your main objective? Your answer will be linked to the meaning you give to life.
Is it maybe love? Happiness? Being rich? Successful? Once you’ve answered this question, you can continue inquiring and ask yourself, for example, what happiness means for you? Or success?
5. Can you make someone’s life different?
This question is connected with your values and your own identity. Your answer will reflect, in part, to what extent you empathize with others, how confident you are in yourself, what you see yourself capable of achieving, and what you can contribute to others.
6. Are you grateful?
Gratitude is a value and the tendency to be grateful is a personality trait and characteristic.
Thus, the answer to this question offers you a lot of information about yourself and who you are. Are you a person who values things? Are you grateful for what you have? Or, are you more focused on what you don’t have?
7. What represents the best of you?
What would you highlight about yourself as positive aspects? In your answer, you’ll find more information about your self-concept,as we mentioned earlier.
It’s information related to how you see yourself, and what you believe shines brightly in you. In other words, your strengths and what you’re proud of about yourself.
8. In ten or twenty years, what would you like people to say about you?
This question reflects what you want others to think about you over time. Are they values? Something material? Your successes? Your emotions?
The answer you give speaks of your deepest desires, what you long for, and the impact you’d like to have on the lives of others.
9. What struggles have you had that have changed you?
You go through difficult experiences in your life. In those struggles, you change. For example, they may make you stronger, or alternatively, you may become more vulnerable.
Because life changes you. Thus, the answer to this question also reveals who you are. It reflects your path, your difficult moments, and the learning you’ve acquired through them.
10. What are you most proud of?
Another question you can ask yourself in order to get to know yourself more. What are you proud of? Is it due to something you’ve achieved? Or, of something that you’ve said or thought? Or is it the people that surround you? In fact, your own pride and the fact of feeling pride towards something also reflects your personality, your values, and your way of thinking.
Who are you? The path of self-knowledge
Have you ever wondered who you really are? Can you think of any other questions that may help you find out?
The truth is that self-knowledge is a journey that lasts a lifetime. Therefore, introspection questions, made through your internal dialogue, can help you become aware of your path and your own identity.
“If you don’t know who you truly are, you’ll never know what you really want.”
-Roy T. Bennett-
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Fernández, L. (2013). Pensando en la personalidad. Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de Las Tunas. Personalidad.
- Navarro, M. (2009). Autoconocimiento y autoestima. Revista digital para profesionales de la enseñanza, 5: 1-9.