WOMAN, KNOW THY SELF.

Knowing one's self is imperative especially for women in this day and age. We are constantly barraged with societal and cultural expectations of us, the media too constantly shows us how a perfect woman's body should be like, Pastors and older women constantly remind us of how we are expected to behave and how if we fall short, we are bound to end up alone and miserable.

And because we have an innate desire to please people and to be accepted,we tend to conform to these expectations there by living a lie and having an unhappy life. We literarily allow other people to define who we are.
When we allow people to define who we are, we allow them to put us in a box. A limited box, because no one will put you in a box and still allow you to fly and freely express yourself.

Our first job in life as women is to get to know ourselves. - Michelle Obama

This helps us in making life decisions to suit us, and standing our grounds on not conforming to expectations, we also get to know our self worth and self value.
It is impossible to know yourself in one day, It is a continuous process, just like learning.


How to know yourself -
Through self reflection, think about your actions regularly especially the ones that you know, you should or could have done better.
Ask yourself questions regularly and answer truthfully. It is futile for you to lie to yourself. It does more harm than good.

Questions like these are helpful

When were you born?
What do you feel about your age?
Do you consider yourself beautiful?
What part of your body do you love?
Do you hate any part of your body?
What do you love to do?
What do you do for fun?
What upsets you?
What Scares you?
What motivates you?
What is your preferred method of communication?
Do you love to debate on issues?
Do you take those debates personally?
Are you a sensitive person?
What kind of person are you attracted to?
What are the qualities you want in a partner?
What are your talents?
What are you passionate about?
What career or business path are you interested in?
Do you like to set goals for yourself and work towards it or just go with the flow?
How do you take feedback and criticism?
When do you want to retire?
What do you want to do after you retire?
How do you learn and How do you teach?
Are you comfortable in your loneliness?
Are you a morning or evening person?
Do you love your present Job?
Are you ambitious?
Do you care about what people say about you?
Do you suffer insecurities or are totally confident in yourself?
Do you desire validations from friends and family?
What is your relationship like with your parents?
Does the type of relationship you have with either of your parents influence your career path or love life?
Do you want to get married?
Do you think marriage should be a partnership?
Do you desire children?
What does compromise in a relationship mean to you?
Do you forgive easy?
Do you offend easy?
Do you like being around family?
Do you love to do house chores?
Are you an outdoor or indoor person?
Do you think financial responsibilities should be shared between couple?
Do you think household chores should be shared between couple?
Do you think Childcare should be shared between couple?

You can add more questions.

If you are able to answer some or all of these questions truthfully, you are well on the right path to knowing your self.

Self knowledge leads us to live a happy and fulfilled life and lack of it opens us to constant mistakes and a life filled with drama

For instance I trust easy, I can be annoyingly naïve when it comes to relationship. I give my best in every relationship and expect the best from people. In the past I have been cheated on right under my nose and I didn't even know. I don't do conspiracy theories well and I am not good at being a Sherlock Holmes, so I always wanted a drama free relationship with a honest partner who has my interest at heart. That singular knowledge was able to shield me from making a huge mistake in my love life.

The root of every dysfunction in the life of a woman is always in the lack of self worth or value - Oprah Winfrey

Lack of self worth or value stems from lack of knowing one's self

I encourage every woman, girl to get to know herself to avoid living a life of deceit. Society, Culture and Religion do not mean us well and are not obliged to. You owe it to yourself to live in your TRUTH


Anybody pretending to be anything other than who you are , you will never ever reach your personal potential - Oprah Winfrey

Is it your desire to reach your personal potential? If your answer to this question is YES, please know yourself.

Best Wishes
Bola Awe