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Self-awareness is the most important step in your healing journey. You can’t heal if you are unaware of yourself. Imagine you are feeling pain in your body but, you don’t exactly know where and the cause of the pain. It’s because you are not aware of your body. The same goes for emotional and mental health. To tackle the problem, you first have to understand the where, why, and how of the problem. Only then, can you take the necessary steps to heal it. These self-therapy questions are going to help you in better self-assessment to have a successful self-therapy session.
Self Therapy Questions to Ask Yourself
We have divided the self reflection questions into four categories related to work, relationships, mental and physical health, and goals or dreams. You can of course take professional help, but not everyone is comfortable opening up to strangers or can afford professional help. In this case, go to the person who understands you better than anyone else. Yes, YOURSELF!
The next time you feel overwhelmed by circumstances in your life or restless without knowing what’s bugging in the back of your mind, reflect on yourself by asking these self-therapy questions. Your honest answers to these self-therapy questions can help you understand yourself better and get to the root of the problem.
Self Reflection Questions About Your Mental and Physical Health
- How I’ve been feeling lately?
- Am I feeling distressed, disturbed, or worried about something?
- Am I overthinking anything, and why?
- What causes me anxiety and tension?
- What makes me feel calm, happy, and at peace?
- Does anything from my past still affect me? What can I do to let go of my past?
- What are the questions I’m afraid of being asked? And why?
- What are my worst fears? How can I overcome them?
- Do I live in the moment or zone out often? If yes, then why?
- Do any of my thoughts make me feel anxious or overwhelmed? How can I stop negative thoughts from taking control?
- How would I define myself in 3 words?
- What is one thing about myself that I’m proud of?
- Am I really who I am, or do the circumstances make me this?
- What do I see when I look in the mirror?
- Am I disappointed in myself? If yes, then why?
- What can I do to improve my mental health?
- What do I think about when I am alone? Who am I when no one is looking?
- How do I perceive myself? Do the opinions of others about me bother me? If yes, how can I free myself from worrying about what other people think of me?
- Do I have a hard time accepting the truth about myself? For example, I am short, but I’m afraid to accept that I am short.
- Am I happy with my body? What can I do to get my dream body?
- Do I have any health problems that affect my mental health and well-being?
- What do I love about my body?
- What is something that I don’t like about myself? How can I change or embrace it?
- Am I taking care of my body and my overall physical health? If not, how can I start taking care of myself?
- Am I doing enough exercise?
Now ponder the answers to these questions and create new habits or routines that can help you improve your mental and physical health.
Questions About Your Relationships
- What kind of relationship do I have with myself? Do I criticize myself over every little mistake, or do I talk to myself in a supporting way?
- Which relationship is the most important for me at the moment, the one that I cherish the most?
- Which relationships make me feel empty or distressed?
- Am I happy in my personal life with my partner or husband? Do we have a healthy relationship?
- Which relationships make me question my self-worth and affect my self-confidence, decision-making abilities, and guilt trip me?
- Who is the person in my life with whom I need to spend more time or less time?
- Which is the relationship I despise but have to put up with it for several reasons?
- Do people close to me make me feel better or worse about myself?
- What bothers me about the people who are close to me?
- Do I judge people often?
- Do I get angry and defensive when someone disagrees with me? why?
- Am I ready to start a family? If you already have children, ask am I doing enough for my child?
We might not realize this, but the people we surround ourselves with affect our well-being, either intentionally or unintentionally. Answer all of these questions honestly to understand your relationships better and how they affect you. Once you know the answers, get close to people who make you feel better and distance yourself (or at least minimize interaction) from people who are not good for your wellbeing.
Self Awareness Questions About Your Work Life
- Am I happy with my job? Why and why not?
- Does my job make me feel creative and good or leave me burnt out and stressed?
- What is my dream job? What can I do to get a dream job?
- How do I prefer working? From home, part-time, volunteering, etc.
- How do my colleagues and boss make me feel? Should I change my behaviour with them? or should I confront them about their behaviour?
- If I had the chance, would I leave my job and do something closer to my heart? Could it replace my job and become my main source of income?
- Am I being underpaid for the amount of work I do?
- What is the work environment in my office like? Does it affect me positively or negatively?
- How do I feel at work with my co-workers and boss?
- Does the success of a co-worker make me feel anxious or jealous? How can I overcome this?
- What disturbs me at work, timing, socializing, co-workers, work itself etc?
Working is a part of life. Everyone has different preferences when it comes to working. Ask yourself these probing questions to understand whether your current work is making any positive changes in your life, or do you have to make a career shift?
Self Reflection Questions About Your Goals or Dreams in Life
- Am I living my dream life? If not, then what is stopping me from living my dream life?
- What is my goal or dream in life? What can I do to achieve it?
- What kind of life do I want to live?
- What is my definition of success?
- Does not being able to live my dream life affects my mental health?
- Am I always thinking about my goals and dreams but unable to take action to make them a reality? If yes, what’s the reason?
Conclusion
Everyone has dreams or goals in life. A lot of people base their entire self-worth on their achievements which are not healthy at all. Your achievements, success, or productivity does not define you. Yes, you should be proud of your achievements, but you should know that you are so much more than that. Ask yourself if I am doing enough, or do I need to do more to make my dreams a reality?
Answering these self therapy questions will help you understand yourself better and reveal where you are lacking and where you need to take a step back. This will also help you detect the root cause of the anxiety you might be facing right now.
To make this self-therapy session even more successful, write and monitor your daily thoughts in a journal. If daily journaling seems way too much for you, do it weekly. This way, you can easily track your anxiety and add necessary measures to treat it, like meditating or cuddling with a therapy dog.
Remember this approach might not work for everyone, but it’s a great way to keep an eye on your wellbeing now and then. If you’re experiencing difficulties or a crisis, please contact a professional therapist online.