When it comes to our lives, asking ourselves the right questions can help clarify where we’re heading as well as establishing where we are in the present moment. Life is one hell of a journey and most of us are wandering blindly on a path that has no real right or wrong and this is why stopping once in a while and questioning our motives is important. Encouraging our need to grow is paramount to understanding our needs moving forward.
With this in mind, here are 5 questions you can ask yourself to get you thinking in the right direction.
1. Where Do I Need To Go To Find Myself?
Travelling extensively isn’t for everyone but going off and experiencing different places and cultures can really help you grow and find out more about your values. Experiencing different places allows us to see different perspectives. Different ways of doing things and our reactions to different experiences whether comfortable or uncomfortable, brings growth and a deeper understanding of ourselves. Wherever you go, whether it’s different parts of your own country or further afield into the world make sure it’s somewhere that’ll inspire or challenge you.
2. What’s The Most Impractical Career That Would Make Me Happy If I Went For It?
This gets you thinking about what your passion truly is. If there were no barriers, obstacles or money wasn’t an issue, what would you want to do? Sometimes we get stuck in life or get to a point where we question our career choice. Happiness, rather than following a particular career path, becomes more of a priority when we realise there must be more to life than what is our current repetitive routine.
Many people are brave enough to change careers completely and succeed. There’s nothing wrong with imagining what your ideal life would be and asking yourself this question could start some inspired action or opportunities.
3. Why Do I Want What I Want?
This is one of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself because it’s finding out the why behind your what. If we don’t know why we do anything then we really live life with no real purpose. Identifying the why is the best way to focus in on what’s important to you and helps eliminate your need to care about what other people think. We’re so used to questioning our motives through the opinions of others instead of our own, so honing in our own ‘why’ is crucial in understanding our true purpose.
4. What’s The Lowest Standard of Living I’m Willing To Tolerate Right Now?
Depending on your age, your tolerance to your living standards varies. For those still in the throes of youth, living impractically is much easier and probably the only real time in your life you can get away with it. But for anyone, when we’re stuck in a rut it’s important to think about how to better our situation in some way. Whether it’s choosing to live more impractically with no rules or commitments, or choosing to improve it somehow, for example, redecorating your home, a change can be good to get more perspective on how your life is going.
5. What Kind of Life Do I Want To Avoid At All Costs?
Figuring out what we want can be hard especially when we’re starting out in life but can also be applied to any stage of our lives. Turning the question of what we want on its head and asking ‘what do I NOT want?’ may be a smarter way to approach it. Sometimes eliminating what you want to avoid is much easier than trying to think about what you really want.
Questioning ourselves is an important way to check in and evaluate our lives. Asking the right questions can help open our eyes and make us realise whether we’re on the right track. You don’t always have to have all the answers but making sure you are asking yourself these questions can highlight areas of life that may need evaluating from time to time.
