find oneself

Verb

find oneself (third-person singular simple present finds oneself, present participle finding oneself, simple past and past participle found oneself)

1. (idiomatic) To learn, or attempt to learn, the essence or nature of one's character and the aims or desires one pursues in life.
   • When he was in his early twenties, he backpacked around Europe to find himself.
   • I don't know what was said, my baby / I thought that everything was fine / You say you got to get away, to find yourself1981, Atlantic Starr, “Send For Me”, in Radiant
2. (idiomatic) To unexpectedly or unintentionally begin to do or experience something.
   • As you enter the cafe, you find yourself wondering why they decided to paint the entire room blue.
   • When news of his wife’s murder spread around the media, he found himself in front of a press conference explaining his actions.
3. (idiomatic) To be in a particular state of mind.
   • How do you find yourself this morning?
4. (literally) To find (something) for oneself.
   • I need to find myself a boat.
   • On entering the ſervice he finds himſelf a horſe, and when that dies he is mounted by government; when his horſe dies proper officers make out a certificate thereof, which is called a ſaketnameh, in order that his pay may be regulated accordingly, for until he has found another horſe, he ceaſes to...1800, Abu’l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, “The Ahdy”, in Francis Gladwin, transl., Ayeen Akbery; or The Institutes of the Emperor Akber. Translated from the Original Persian … In Two Volumes...
5. (literally) To discover oneself to be in a particular place.
   • I got drunk and woke to find myself in the neighbour’s garden the next morning.
   • If you found yourselves some day at the base of Mont Blanc, where that giant of mountains strikes his immovable foundations into the earth, and if you saw some little ants issuing from their hillock, labouring, scraping, picking, running, taking, one a blade of grass, another a grain of sand, would...1851, J[ean]-H[enri] Merle D’Aubigné, “Discourse I. The Testimony of God.”, in W. K. Tweedie, transl., Rationalism and Popery Refuted: Three Courses on the Authority of the Scriptures. … Translated...