When was the last time you sat, explored and reconnected with the person you are, today? Where you interrogated the story you tell about yourself, where you got clear on the values driving you, and released any roles, beliefs, or identities no longer serving you.
We live in a world that centres identity, yet rarely encourages the critical exploration of it. Most narratives that do touch on identity, are focused on how other people choose to identify, rarely your own personal experience with it.
Before we’ve taken our first breath, we’ve been sorted, labelled, and handed an identity we are expected to fill. Early education teaches us to fit in and perform, and according to Identity thinkers like Erikson, by adolescence, we should be moving through identity establishment.
Yet not once are we given the time, skills or autonomy to critically assess the role of identity in our own life. So for many, this means it’s something that has never been considered, and for others, who possess complex, nuanced or marginalized identities, it can become a confusing source of pain and shame.
As humans, we have an innate need to belong and are taught that belonging is found in other people. We disagree. We believe you can only belong to others, to the extent to which you belong to yourself. How do you expect others to truly see you if you don’t know what you look like?
It starts with exploring SELFHOOD.
