Week 33 - "“I will not be 'famous,' 'great.' I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped " - Virginia Woolf

Inspired by a conversation with a stranger...

Identity is an interesting concept. In one sense, it’s everything since, at its core, it’s you. Yet, it can feel like nothing because, in the grand scheme of things, it’s just one person’s perception of themself.

You’d think that as we go through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, we’d be able to define and express ourselves pretty well. However, an “identity crisis” seems to be an all-too-common experience that transcends age. 

Aptly defined as a period of confusion or uncertainty in one’s life. An identity crisis happens when our self-perception becomes unstable. 

It’s like seeing our past and present selves as distinct entities. The person we are today sees our past self as a foreign concept. It begs the question. 

Which one is me?

We find comfort in believing we have a grasp on our identity, our passions, our aspirations, and our place in the world. 

But an idea I’ve started to embrace is that identity is an ever-changing concept. Many characteristics and inclinations we hold are formed from patterns and repeated behaviors that we pick up from our surroundings, not just our intuition.

Admittedly, there are things we can confidently believe about ourselves, but to believe that I or anyone else could completely understand themself after a few decades on earth is preposterous. 

There is too much that influences everything about one’s identity to declare that someone is actually who they think they are. Our identity is just a perception, and as such, should not be confined to such rigid definitions.

It is a disservice to condemn yourself to a singular perception of your identity. By doing so, you inadvertently limit the possibilities of who you can be. 

Your identity will elude you for most of your life. And until all your experiences, reflections, successes, and failures culminate into the single realization that allows you to declare “This is who I am”, you must understand that your current self-perception is but a momentary chapter in your life’s story. 

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