You’re never going to be perfect, but that doesn’t mean you’ll never be good. 

There’s a stage in life when you feel like you’re really happy about who you became.

There’s hardly a specific blueprint or step-by-step guide on to get there, especially since life keeps changing and new challenges arise all the time.

Every soul is unique, so your journey to self-actualization is also one-of-a-kind.

However, there are signs that’ll tell you you’re almost there. In particular, we’ll talk about the 10 signs you’ve almost developed into the best version of yourself.

1) You’re not afraid to say “no”

Learning to draw boundaries is one of the most important things you can do to improve your mental health. And this starts by learning how to say ‘no.’ 

Even though it’s such a short little word, saying it can be challenging for a lot of us. It may evoke a sense of guilt or shame and make us feel like bad people. 

But you need to remember that saying ‘no’ to people is an important skill to protect your peace, prevent others from taking advantage of you, and keep your soul safe. 

If you feel like you’ve mastered this skill–congratulations! You’ve almost developed into the best version of yourself.

Because you can’t pour from an empty glass, and that’s why saying ‘no’ is so important.

2) You’re prioritizing your health

It is easy to forget how precious health is, especially if you’re not suffering from any chronic pain or disease. At times, you might even feel tempted to abuse your own body by overworking or taking unhealthy substances.

But when you approach a more self-actualized state, you’ll find a more harmonious relationship with your body. You become more sensitive to your needs and more motivated to fulfill them.

After all, creating a good relationship with yourself gives you more strength and energy to improve the world around you.

3) You’re becoming your own best friend

They say the first person you should love before anybody else is yourself. This is because you are the person you will spend the rest of your life with. 

The idea of having a relationship with the self may sound strange, but think about it: You have a relationship with yourself similar to one you have with everyone. 

The only difference is that it’s the relationship that has the last say in every decision you make, and it largely determines how you live your life. 

It goes without saying that the quality of your relationship with yourself is key to reaching self-actualization. How you love yourself says a lot about how developed you are.

4) You don’t compare yourself with others

Instead, you compare yourself with the past version of you.

We established that every soul is unique, and so every journey is unique. The more you realize this, the more you can accept that there is no point in comparing yourself to others. 

Everybody has different obstacles in life, but more importantly, everyone has different goals in life. So, comparing yourself to others is like comparing a runner to a gymnast. 

The only person on the race track is you. When you can visualize this, you can allocate more attention and energy to your self-growth. 

So ask yourself: how much have you progressed within the past few months? That’s the most important thing to measure.

5) You’re learning to let go

One of the most important steps to developing into the best version of yourself is making peace with impermanence. 

Saying goodbye to the things or people we love is difficult, but it’s a part of life. Once you accept that everything has an end, you find that life is about the art of letting go.

Your relationships, your job, your material possessions–all of these things will end at some point, one way or another. Letting go doesn’t mean suppressing your feelings or refusing to love anything or anyone. 

On the contrary, it means embracing every moment you have with your loved ones or doing something that fulfills you.

The more developed you are, the better you get at saying ‘hello’ to anything that comes and ‘goodbye’ when it’s time for it to go.

6) You are not waiting for something or someone to complete you

It’s true that as a human being, you need others in order to thrive. 

However, you are still an individual and a whole person on your own. You don’t need to put your confidence and sense of self-worth entirely in other people’s hands. 

After all, doing this could give people too much power to hurt you or become overburdened themselves. 

As tempting as it is to depend on someone else completely, this dependence can blur boundaries and create unhealthy relationships. 

You do rely on other people, but you’re also perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. The more developed you are as a person, the better you know when to ask for help and when to take matters into your own hands.

7) You’re taking responsibility for your actions

One of the hardest things to learn as an adult is taking responsibility for your actions. 

However, if you can’t fully acknowledge your mistakes, you won’t learn from them. 

It’s true that finding the line between self-deprecation and taking accountability can be hard. 

But if you’re almost the best version of yourself, you’ll know that you’re only a human and you make mistakes. 

This may cost you your relationships, your health, career opportunities, or finances, but it’s not because of some fundamental flaw.

The more you realize that you will always have the choice to get better, the more you will grow from your shortcomings.

8) You’re actively seeking growth and learning

Just like everything else in life, personal growth is a choice. Age can bring wisdom by giving you a wealth of opportunities to learn, but you need to take those opportunities by the horns. 

It’s like how standing in a library for hours won’t make you smart if you don’t pick up a book. 

Learning is important because there’s always going to be something you’re ignorant about, something you can improve on, or a situation you have never faced before. 

You know you’re close to becoming the best version of yourself when you keep yourself open to learning new things and new experiences to continuously improve.

9) You’re focused on your progress 

By now, you should know that the only person you should be competing with is yourself. 

This means that the more developed you are, the more you focus your energy on how you’ve progressed from where you started rather than where your peers are now. 

Becoming your best self requires a lot of self-awareness and self-care. However, these things alone won’t help you grow as a person. This energy you accumulate needs to be put into something valuable. 

You need to think about what you need to improve, what type of person you want to become, and what you want to become good at. 

To become the best version of yourself, knowing what that version looks like is crucial.

10) You’re facing your fears

It goes without saying that becoming your best self isn’t easy. 

There are a lot of obstacles you need to overcome, not just in the outside world but also within yourself. 

Fears are one of those obstacles. Becoming a confident and successful person means facing your flaws, scary parts of yourself, and truths that are hard to accept.  

If you want to develop as an individual, you need to learn how to take those leaps of faith. You can’t grow if you let fears dictate your life. After all, feelings are just temporary, and fear passes no matter how intense it feels. 

The best version of yourself recognizes that you are so much more than your fears, and you have all the strength you need to overcome them.

To sum up

Becoming your best self means always caring for yourself, being open to learning new things, and choosing growth even when uncomfortable. 

There will always be something you can improve on. It’s just a question of how well you master these skills and open yourself to the new shiny version of who you are.