"Finding yourself", an expression us millennials have heard and use too often, its not what everyone thinks it's really all about. We are told by the people around us what we have to do in order to find ourselves. We have to travel, go to college, meet new people, the list goes on. You can find yourself by doing things you want to do, rather than by doing things people tell you to do.
Finding yourself isn't about people telling you how to do it. We already know who we are, and we don't need certain experiences to tell us that. We chain and trap ourselves over the idea that we need to do these certain things in order to find ourselves - but we're really just losing ourselves. Getting obsessed over this idea that we're life as empty people until we get up and do something about it, is entirely wrong. Your life is exactly what you make of it, not what others make of it.
Do what you enjoy. Some people don't want to go to college. "College is where you find yourself." Is it really? Yes, college can open your mind, but it's not the take-all on who you are as a person. "Traveling allows you to find yourself." Some people don't have the money - or the time - to pack up and go. Some people don't even want to travel, imagine that! Yet we kill ourselves, forcing ourselves, to go out and experience what people tell us, that this will make us find ourselves. People found themselves doing those things, but it doesn't necessarily mean you will.
Our generation tends to do things for the wrong reasons. We've wrapped our minds around the idea that life should be lived the way people glamorously exploit it on social media. Then we feel hurt and disappointed in ourselves that we're not living up to that perfect idea in our heads. Life is easily as fulfilled by the experiences you actually enjoy having. If you're not doing every step in the process of "finding yourself", you're still going to find yourself regardless.
Not that there is something that needs to be found, which again according to society, there is. If you are happy and pleased with your life, why look for more?
It's okay to want a little adventure. It's okay to want to push the boundaries of your comfort zone. It's okay to live life to the fullest. It's good to do all those things, but do them for the right reasons. Do them because you want to, not because you were told to.
