Who Am I Really?

Who am I  Really?  That is a tough question to answer for yourself!  We hear the saying “know yourself” and ” love yourself”, but why bother and what does it mean?  Who wouldn’t want to know the person they spend 100% of their day every day with?  That is a lot of time with someone you don’t really know!  So who are you?   What do you like/dislike?  What are your strengths and weaknesses?  What are your values, beliefs, goals, and dreams?  What makes you happy?  Knowing the answer to these questions can help you live a more productive life.  By knowing your values, you are likely to make better decisions for yourself.  When you know your likes, dislikes, strengths, and weaknesses, you can set more appropriate goals and dreams for yourself.  When you know what brings you joy, then you know how to make yourself happy!

Time to yourself to discover who you are on a regular basis is important to your well being and happiness in life.  You can get to know yourself in many ways just like you would get to know a friend.  You can chat with yourself in a journal.  You can take yourself out on dates by yourself to a movie, dinner, etc. You can stay home and hang out with yourself.  Perhaps enjoy a cup of tea or dance around the house.  You can try new things to see if you like them.  You can also ask yourself questions.  I recently found a challenge where you list 100 Things About “Me”.  I want to know myself, so I challenged myself to create a list!

100 Things About “Me”

1. My favorite candle scent is cinnamon.
2. My favorite comfort food is spaghetti.
3. I love to drink tea.
4. I never out grew coloring.
5. I am a dog person, but a few of my friends cats have won me over lately.
6. I value friendship and am loyal to my friends.
7. I am not perfect and never will be.
8. My favorite muffin is one I created called Gluten Free Chunky Monkey Muffins.
9. I grew up hating the color orange.  I recently have made friends with the color orange.  I now think of it as tropical orange with beaches & water.
10. I like going on adventures in my van, especially when it includes family & friends.
11. My go to practice for anxiety/stress relief is breathing exercises.  I can do these even when I’m driving.
12. I rise to challenges and often overcome them.
13. My favorite flowers are tulips & carnations.
14. My favorite yoga pose is a Warrior pose.
15. I am a great party planner and enjoy getting together with my friends.
16. I can’t wait to try my own bullet journal!  I’ve seen fascinating posts on them.
17. I LOVE my pack of Papermate Inkjoy mini colored pens!
18. I love to help other people out.
19. I enjoy spending time with myself.
20. I find solving puzzle books (except crosswords) to be relaxing.
21. Looking at colorful things makes me happy.
22. I enjoy cross country skiing when I get a chance.
23. I value family and love spending time with my three daughters.
24. December is my favorite month.
25. I have struggled with anxiety most of my life.
26. I am a serious choco-holic!  Chocolate Chex, chocolate muffin, chocolate milk, chocolate peanut butter, … I can find a way to make it part of every meal in a day!
27. I loved playing French Horn in high school.
28. I participate in coupon shopping.
29. I am an optimist.
30. I try to see the good in everyone.
31. I enjoy having my own garden.
32. I enjoy walking around a good zoo with friends.
33. I enjoy walking through a large public garden especially one with a Japanese Garden.
34. I enjoy being silly.
35. I adore dice!  The come in so many colors & shapes.
36. I enjoy playing solitaire games with a deck or two of cards.
37. I like to take pictures.
38. I love watching the clouds.
39. I like painting ceramic dishes.
40. I like to go mini golfing.
41. I like going bowling.
42. I like to visit museums.
43. I want to learn to ride a horse.
44. I want to overcome my fear of heights so that I can participate in adventure sports such as rock wall climbing and rope courses.
45. I enjoy looking at recipes and finding new ones I want to try.
46. I enjoy trying out new restaurants.
47. I value honesty.
48. I love looking at how green the grass looks in New England during the early Spring.
49. My favorite fruit is bananas, followed by peaches, strawberries, and grapes.
50. I like geometric shapes in art.
51. I like to admire architecture.
52. I enjoy observing human & animal behavior.
53. I enjoy washing dishes.  It is nice to soak my hands in warm water!
54. I value family.  I taught my girls “Friends may come and go, but sisters are for life.  So treat your sisters well.”
55. I value trustworthiness.
56. I value education.  I believe that if you teach someone to read, then they can learn anything they want.
57. I value patience…not to be confused with me always being patient.  I came up with a saying years ago that “Patience is a virtue that is rewarded with being in the right place at the right time.”
58. I believe in leading by example.
59. I enjoy social media and the friends I make there.
60. I love creative thinking.
61. I am curious about how things work.
62. I believe parenting and educating a child is one of the most important jobs in the world as today’s children are our future.
63. I am fascinated by watching snow removal trucks.
64. I love looking at waterfalls.
65. I believe flexibility to be the key to enjoying life.
66. I enjoy giving care packages to people.
67. I inspire those around me to try new things.
68. I enjoy moments of mindfulness throughout my day.
69. I really like 8 hours of sleep every night.
70. I want to take my daughters to see the Harlem Globetrotters.
71. I love corn chips.
72. I still think stuffed animals are cute.
73. I want to take a train ride to view nature.
74. I’ve been eating gluten free for about 4 years now.
75. I have lived in at least 10 states plus Italy.
76. I enjoy motivational/inspirational quotes
77. I enjoy writing.
78. I enjoy sitting outside and observing the sounds and sights around me.
79. I am good at seeing things from a variety of vantage points.
80. I find rocking in a rocking chair to be calming when I am stressed or upset.
81. I persevere through adversity.  I am strong.
82. I am constantly challenging myself to try new things in life.
83. I am intelligent and love to spend time thinking about things that interest me.
84. I enjoy learning new things from books, the internet, and videos.
85. I enjoy watching a fire in the pellet stove in the winter.
86. I am a good swimmer.
87. I dislike crowds, therefor I prefer to go to things when they are less busy.
88. I will drive all over Massachusetts to get to friends, family, and activities that I enjoy.
89. I enjoy spoiling my two dogs!  One is a beagle & one is a beagle/basset hound mix.
90. I enjoy hot soup and grilled sandwiches for lunch in the winter.
91. My life’s mission is to improve the quality of life for all my friends and others who wish to follow my lead.
92. My goal is to enjoy life while I work at being a blogger!
93. I am not a night owl and become a bit silly after 8:00.  My friends seem to love this.
94. I am knowledgeable  about many special needs and mental health issues due to the vast amount of reading I  have done over the years about it and some personal experiences I have had.
95. I have two visualizations I like to use.  One is of me sitting on a bench in a flower garden with my grandmother who died many years ago.  The other is a dream of mine where I am riding a horse with a friend on a beach.
96. I have a dream to have regular vacations with my daughters throughout the rest of our lives.  Vacations are a great way to reconnect and something we have missed doing.
97. I have always used a writing Journal as a way to understand my thoughts and emotions.
98. I like to dress practically for the what I am doing during the day.
99. I am inspired by my grandmother who I always saw as an intelligent woman with a beautiful flower garden and great home canned goods from her vegetable garden.  She loved music, reading, and puzzle books.
100. I I love the person I am becoming!

Wow!  There really is a lot to know about me!  Looking through it makes me see that what I want to do and my interests in life seem to be on the same path.  That should make my goals in life a lot easier.  I now challenge all my readers and blogger friends to come up with their own list of 100 things!  Let’s just see how much we can learn about ourselves.