For us to talk about redefining ourselves, it means we have already been defined. For there to be a RE-, it means there was an existing definition.
The question is who did the definition?
You or people around you.
Many of us due to many circumstances and people we are living our lives based on the expectation of what people have for us.
This can also be referred to as IMPOSTER SYNDROME a conflict between your own self-perception and the way others perceives you. You are constrained to act a certain way people believe you are, but you know deep down that’s not who you are and your fear that you will be discovered for who you are, keeps you living a false life.
Redefining yourself means to take up a new way of life or creating something completely new. It means you may be dissatisfied with where you are now and need to make some drastic changes irrespective of what people may think. You are deciding to define what your life should be.
You need to come out of the box peoples thinking and opinion have put you. You need to decide not to live with the consciousness of what people expect, you are under pressure to keep the status quo.
You must figure out who you currently are and how that person differs from who you want to be.
HOW DO YOU THEREFORE REDEFINE YOURSELF?
- First you must be dissatisfied with where you are. You must be ready to tell yourself the truth that you are not where you ought to be or who you are supposed to be. Become uncomfortable with mediocrity.
- You must be ready to offend people when you begin to take some drastic steps. In this journey some relationships will have to severed because they cannot fit in your new you.
- Know it is never too late to redefine yourself, change is a part of life, be ready to adapt to it and grow.
- Let go of the past. Many of us are holding on to so many things that have become baggage and held us in one spot in our thinking, a weight that keeps us in mediocrity mindset. You must let go.
- Stop worrying about other people’s opinion. Part of redefining yourself is becoming the person you want to be and not the person people expect you to be.
- Identify the qualities you would like to develop about your redefined self and start working on it. Example confidence, self-awareness, public speaking, leadership skill.
- Step out of your comfort zone: life is very boring when it is a routine day to day.
Add flavor to your life and step out of your comfort zone e.g visit a new restaurant, sleep out with your family occasionally in a hotel, read a book on a topic you are not familiar with, watch a TV program you never considered before. Learn a new skill, pick a new hobby.