The past 12 months have left us all with a lot of time to learn new things. Maybe you tried your hand at making bread or redecorating a space in your house. Stuck at home thanks to pandemic-related lockdowns, you probably discovered capabilities you didn’t know you possessed.
In addition to acquiring new skills, it’s also been a year of learning new things about yourself. Regardless of how you spent the past year, self-discovery has become a growing trend. From evaluating your health to plumbing the depths of your personality, there are many things you can learn about yourself right at home.
Consider these eight ways you can begin your voyage of self-discovery without even stepping foot out the door:
Assess Your Sexual Health
Despite lockdowns and other COVID-19 restrictions, it’s important to make sure you’re still taking care of yourself. And you can — from the comfort of your own home.
From blood pressure monitoring to blood glucose testing, at-home medical testing isn’t exactly a new concept. But you might not know that you can perform at-home tests to assess your sexual health, including checking for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Having a positive status for herpes or another STI is a widespread phenomenon and nothing to be embarrassed about. At–home STI testing can help you test for common infections with ease. These tests are convenient and discreet and will enable you to get more in tune with your body.
Determine Your Stress Signature
Have you ever come straight home after a stressful day at work and felt like collapsing into bed? If you struggle with chronic stress, it can take a toll on both your physical and mental health. Getting to know yourself and your reactions to stress can help you fight against the side effects that stress creates. In fact, there’s a test you can take to do just that.
Stephanie McClellan, MD, has developed an online stress signatures test that will show you precisely how you experience stress. The test is composed of 82 questions and resembles the format of the popular Myers-Briggs test.
By taking the stress signatures test, you’ll learn the specific ways stress affects you and different ways to manage it. You’ll breathe easier once you have a better understanding of your stress responses and how to mitigate them.
Get the Full Lowdown on Rest
Rest goes beyond just sleeping. According to Saundra Dalton-Smith, MD, creator of the Personal Rest Assessment, there are seven different types of rest. In addition to physical rest, Dalton-Smith believes humans require rest that restores our mental, spiritual, emotional, social, sensory, and creative energies as well.
Her rest quiz will help you assess where your resting regimen might be lacking. Through a series of multiple-choice questions, the test scores you on how well you’ve been resting in each area. The lower your score, the more you need to focus on that area of rest. By prioritizing the right kinds of rest, you’ll become a more well-rounded and happy individual.
Discover Your Myers-Briggs Personality
Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
You’ve probably heard that the Myers-Briggs 16 Personalities test gauges your level of introversion versus extroversion. This popular personality test goes beyond just that element of personality, however. The 16 Personalities test is designed to help you identify your personality type, strengths, and preferences.
The test assesses you according to four paired categories: introversion or extroversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving. It not only lets you learn more about your own personality, but it can also assist you in building relationships. When you know your and other people’s personality types, you’ll understand the best ways to communicate with them. Plus, the results are a great topic for conversation!
Figure Out Your Enneagram Type
Have you ever heard someone say they’re a “type four, wing three” (or something along those lines)? They were probably referring to their Enneagram results.
The Enneagram is another test that will enable you to learn more about your personality. This test determines which of nine personality types fit you best, such as reformer, helper, individualist, etc. The Enneagram helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses and what you can do to improve in those weaker areas.
Find Your True Colors
The Myers-Briggs 16 Personalities test and Enneagram are the most popular personality tests, but they’re not the only games in town. Have you heard of the True Colors test?
As the name suggests, the True Colors personality test uses four colors to represent the different types of personalities. You can be energetic like orange, compassionate like blue, organized like gold, or intuitive like green. Or you might even be a combination of two colors. By taking this test, you learn more about yourself and your personal temperament.
Learn Your Strengths
Determining your strengths will allow you to thrive in many facets of your life, including your career. This knowledge can help you understand who you are, make the most of your skills, and increase your confidence in your abilities.
You can discover your top strengths by taking the CliftonStrengths assessment, which was developed by the Gallup organization. In this assessment, you’ll choose which of a series of two statements sounds more like you. Once you’re done, the test will reveal your top five strengths and explain what they mean — and how to leverage them.
Uncover Family Secrets
You can cancel that trip to Salt Lake City. The days of consulting the Mormons or going to the local library to trace your family lineage are over. Now you can learn all about your ethnic roots right at home with an at-home DNA testing kit.
The process is easy and painless. Collect your DNA by spitting in a tube or swabbing the inside of your cheek, and then return it for testing. With just a simple swab, you can uncover your family’s history and genetics and even find long-lost relatives. You can visit this site to know about Ask Reader.
As the self-discovery trend continues to gain popularity, it’s time to get on board. By learning about your health, personality, and family, you can gain a better understanding of what makes you tick. You can discover strengths you can rely on and weaknesses you need to improve on. You can build a better relationship with yourself and others in your life. And the best part? You don’t even have to leave your home to experience these moments of self-discovery.
