I was 27. On my way home from the city, I needed a productive way to pass the long hours. I picked up a newspaper. One ad caught my attention. A Norwegian software company was looking for 20 passionate graduates for a fully-funded, two-year entrepreneurship program. I applied as soon as I got home. After several interviews, I received the "congratulations" email. That choice set me on a path that helped me discover a part of myself I never knew existed. I never thought I could completely change path from a career in legal practice to becoming an online entrepreneur. An introduction to someone after graduation also opened a new reality in my life. Today, my career is an "experiment in progress."

I wouldn't want it any other way.

A part of you is completely unexplored, unknown (even a stranger to you) until you choose a specific experience. Or meet a particular person, read a particular book, or hear someone talk about their experience in that reality. You've left that potential unlocked until you are open to exploring that part of you. Some things don't change your life; they unlock parts of you that you never knew existed. Growth, love, pain, or purpose. Experiences in life are not random. If you are open to the wisdom behind them, you could uncover something new you never knew you could do.

Psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung said, "The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed." He also wrote, "Every human life contains a potential; if that potential is not fulfilled, then that life was wasted."

We don't really know our full potential until the right experience awakens it. It might be a person. A book. A job that challenges you. A conversation you didn't expect to have. Sometimes it's something painful. Or something that makes you feel good. Or even something that feels small at first, like signing up for a random class because your weekend looked boring. It's not just skills or hobbies. It's ways of being.

Maybe you're a natural leader, but you've never been thrown into a situation that demanded it. That potential is sitting there, locked. And the key is never generic. It's specific. A particular book whose sentences feel like they were written just for you. A conversation with a stranger at a meetup that changes your worldview. A devastating failure that reveals a resilience that surprises you. It's not the experience itself.

It's you, reacting to it.

The you that you didn't know yet.

There's so much strength, creativity, and courage sitting in some dark unconscious space inside you, waiting for you to act. Some experiences unlock curiosity, confidence, compassion, ambition, maybe even a new sense of purpose. And once the door is wide open, you can't go back to who you were before. You can meet someone who sees a version of you you've never considered, and suddenly, you wake up a different version of you. Keep walking in that direction, and you end up somewhere completely different.

The secret is to stay open to people, to experiences, to the uncomfortable things, to the random opportunities that don't look important at first thought. You never know which one will hand you a piece of yourself you've never met.

"Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble." It's that active, slightly rebellious choice to engage, to seek the friction that causes the chemical reaction. — Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek

Right now, there's probably something you're curious about. Or someone you've been meaning to talk to. Or an idea you keep brushing off because it feels out of "personality." But what if it's not random at all? What if it's the doorway to a different part of you? And the only way into your unexplored self is to try the thing. Pick up the book. Take the class. Ask the question. Walk toward the experiences that stir something in you, even if you don't know why yet. Because the minute you do, you might meet a version of yourself that's been waiting a long time.

I think of life as a series of discoveries.

You don't just grow what you have.

You find entirely new realities within yourself. The painful job, the random hobby, the person who intrigues or infuriates you. They might not be distractions. They might be invitations. The wisdom isn't in the event itself, but in your openness to what it stirs up in you. What new edge of yourself does it press against? Pay attention to your reactions. That feeling of excitement, that spark of anger, that calm energy. They're clues. They're signals from the unexplored you, picking up a frequency from the outside of yourself. Your potential isn't just what you're good at. It's all the things you are, waiting for their time to be called forward.

Just stay open.

To experiences outside your comfort circle. Read the book outside your usual taste. Listen when someone's life story catches your attention. That's how you meet yourself. Piece by piece, through the reflection the universe throws your way. You may never reach your potential because you're building a better version of the "self" you already know. You'll reach your potential by realising the human "self" is infinitely bigger than you think. Start looking for the doors. They're everywhere.

The "new you" evolves through unexpected ways.

Like when you speak up in a meeting even though you used to say nothing. Or when you catch yourself giving advice you didn't even know you believed. Or when you handle something painful with more grit than the old you ever had. The trap of potential is thinking you already know yourself completely. That you've hit your limit. That your personality is set. It's not. You're more than you know. That's why you have to pay attention to where your curiosity takes you. Notice the tiny things that make you feel alive, or scared in a good way. Even when you are strangely drawn toward something you can't explain. That's usually the door.

And of course, you might walk through and realise it's not for you.

Fine.

You still learn something. You still expand a little. You still stretch the edges of who you are. But every once in a while, you'll walk through a door and think, Oh. There you are. A part of you wakes up. A little fire becomes obvious. A new path opens. And those experiences accumulate. They can transform you. They change what you believe you're capable of. If you stay open to them, you won't just reach your potential. You'll keep surprising yourself long after you thought you had nothing left to discover.

You can't plan these things.

You can't schedule "self-discovery" for Tuesday at three. The universe has a way of showing you keys. And it's up to you to use it to unlock the door. The secret is trusting the process when it's uncomfortable. The book that bores you after twenty pages? You can put it down. It's not your key. The person who makes you feel small? Maybe they're showing you a dormant insecurity, yes, but they're probably not the catalyst for your growth. The reaction matters. Does it make you feel more alive, or less?

Does it feel like an expansion or a contraction?

Pay less attention to the thing itself, and more to how it makes you feel. A good conversation should stay with you for hours. A powerful experience will make you rethink your reality of life. That's the transformation Jung talked about. You're literally different. You have a new piece of yourself to work with. Don't worry so much about "reaching your potential." That just makes you anxious. Think of your self-evolution as a collection of fascinating introductions.

"She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order." ― Toni Morrison, Beloved

You will spend your whole life meeting yourself. The brave you, the heartbroken you, the inventive you, the leader you. They're all in there, waiting for their cue.

Your job is just to get out of your way.

Be a little curious. Say "okay, fine, I'll try it" a bit more often. Listen for that quiet yes in your gut. The keys are everywhere. In a win, in a loss, in a book, your social interactions. The door is you. And there are so many dormant rooms to explore. In the words of T.S. Eliot, "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."