I can see only one reason why self-discovery exists

Who Am I is the world’s most expensive question, and no matter how much we spend, there will never be a definitive answer.

Who am I?

Who Am I is the world’s most expensive question.

Think about the multi-trillion-dollar machine created for people seeking answers to that question. Religion, travel, pharmaceuticals, therapy, surgery, education, gadgets, lotions and a plethora of scented candles are its components.

To be honest, I started writing this post because Ubersuggest told me to do it. Ubersuggest analyses Google search traffic to identify trends and then suggests content topics.

Last week, I brainstormed topics for future blog posts, and I used Ubersuggest to stimulate ideas. It crawled my website, and after a whir and a pop, it suggested that I write about self-discovery.

I write 800-word posts, not encyclopedias, I muttered at the screen.

I pulled the thread anyway and typed “self-discovery questions” into Google. I intended to narrow the post’s scope to the most popular questions about self-discovery.

The search results looked like a war of numbers. The top 10 listings offered 570 questions in total, and that pattern ensued for at least seven pages.

55+ Self-Discovery Questions for Personal Growth

115 Important Self-Discovery Questions To Know Yourself Better

51 Self-Discovery Questions to Ask Yourself While Journaling

10 BIG Self Discovery Questions to Ask Yourself

The questions ranged from “What is my purpose in life?” to “Am I a fast or slow runner?” and “Did I make enough time for my social life this week?”.

A website called The Pleasant Conversation won the war by offering 540+ Questions to Ask Yourself for Self-Discovery. Irony is an advanced discipline within psychology.

With a dad joke gurgling in the back of my mind, I then typed “self-discovery answers” to see what Google would throw up. It gave me the same search results as earlier – 570 questions in the top 10 results. It seems Google has a thorough understanding of the landscape too.

Who Am I is a question that can only ever be answered with more questions.

Humans are like a rich chocolate cake, and the list of ingredients that contribute to who we are is infinite. Think about all the fine permeations of genetics, culture, education, family history, and life experiences inside each of us.

The environment in which we live from moment to moment is like the oven that transforms the ingredients into a whole entity. Vary the heat and baking time, and different characteristics emerge.

That infinite variation is why Who Am I will never have a definitive answer.

Excuse me, not-so-young lady…

I’m not sure why your voice just butted into my consciousness, but alas, you are here.

…If I scroll to the bottom of this page, I see that one of the themes for your blog is “self-discovery”. So, aren’t you simply another cog in that trillion-dollar machine?

That depends entirely on what’s going on for you.

Exploring unanswerable questions is fun when your mind is relaxed, malleable and ready to play.

But rarely is that the case when a human types “self-discovery questions” into Google. I’m guessing they often feel pain or frustration or at least a general sense of unease about how life is unfolding.

Self-discovery can add enormous value to our lives, but only if we assign it a useful role.

How am I?

Rearrange three letters, and the world’s most expensive question transforms into the world’s most powerful one.

It’s a question that can have 540+ practical answers that describe a state of being, and those answers are the precursors to action.

I’m great

I’m feeling frustrated

I’m living the happiest era of my life

I’m anxious about tomorrow

I’m scared about what my boss will say when I ask for the promotion

I love the thrill of running again

The moment I acknowledge my state of being, I arrive at a yes/no decision point.

Is that state acceptable to me or not?

For instance, I’m ok with feeling mildly nervous when I’m about to step onto a stage. But fully freaking out is not acceptable.

That presents me with another yes/no decision to make.

Will I do something about it or not?

Answering yes directs my mind onto a path of working out how to address the issue.

It is most likely that looking inward will be part of that learning process because it is essential for changing our outward responses.

There are many methods for doing that work.

But there’s one factor in play that ensures self-discovery stays top of the pops.

As Fritz Perl pointed out…

“Nobody can stand truth if it is told to him. Truth can be tolerated only if you discover it yourself because then, the pride of discovery makes the truth palatable.”

And that’s why there is only one reasonable reason self-discovery exists. We can’t stomach the idea of someone else doing it for us.

The best way to play with self-discovery

I’ve created The Route To Unstoppable to explore how you are interacting with the world and to uncover ways to remove blockages. I recommend starting at the beginning.

1 – Fighting Through Fear

Fear has a way of creating a big gap in our lives or at least, it feels that way. It is the gap between who we are right now and who we think we are meant to be. > Do Activity

2 – Dumping Excess Baggage

But all the beliefs that I developed when I was 17 years old, are still in my mind and informing the things that I do. > Do Activity

3 – What You Like About You

By this point, some women have already started to stall in this adventure. The challenge ahead is too darn big. The thought of dealing with that mountain of brain junk that we listed yesterday sends them into overwhelm. > Do Activity