How I Used My Emotions as a Tool to Understand Myself Better

Especially after splitting them into two categories — Internal and External

Photo by Content Pixie on Unsplash

I thought I knew everything there is to know about myself. After all, I’ve spent my whole life as me. It never crossed my mind to consider the possibility that I hardly knew myself at all. Then again, I suppose it’s impossible to fathom how much we don’t know at any given time.

When I realized how little I actually knew, Google provided me countless articles to teach me “How to Know Yourself.” Most involve tips like, include meditation in your daily routine or figure out what brings you joy. While not wrong, advice like this is often unrealistic to achieve with our busy schedules and endless to-do lists.

It wasn’t until after I grew tired of the echo chamber that I noticed we already have a built-in mechanism for figuring out who we are and what we want — our emotions.

I can feel it

To be honest, I assumed everything about me was obvious — a sort of, what you see is what you get. It didn’t cross my mind to dig any deeper.

After all, I figured, how can any aspect of myself exist without my notice? Turns out, your self-perception and your behavior don’t always line up with how others…