Grounding Identity

[LDP]

Absolutely Shane! Spot on. We always need to challenge our tendencies to have cognitive bias and cognitive dissonance, in career and relationships. Existential crisis is so real and staying grounded is difficult, for young as well as older people. Its always a struggle. Good on you! Unscripted is cool.

[jiggjohns]

I’m 39 and still finding myself and who I truly am all the fucking time, I’m a farmer, plumber, operator but that doesn’t say shit about who I am. This shit truly goes deep got me thinking 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻rock on.

[materialistdan]

GO TO YOUR ROOM IDENTITY, YOU’RE GROUNDED!

[MrTheatreislife]

Are the things that are internal to us actually unchanging though? It seems to me that your identity changes as you grow, experience new things, and learn. I don't see that as a problem, I see the problem stemming from the external construct of labels we create as a society, and it's one that I can't really see being solved. We create labels for people to keep them straight in our heads, the milkman, the mailman, the secretary, the cook, the mom, the dad, etc. These are just descriptors for what people do and we all do it, because we don't have the mental capacity to know intimately everyone we meet. This makes the labels very useful in memory recall, so just abandoning them would require a change in the very way we view and interact with everyone around us, and I don't see that happening anytime soon. I also think it is a futile effort to try and completely ignore any outside influence on your identity, its not possible. We do not identify as just what we believe or think, our actions are part of our identity too. Our actions and thoughts are inextricably tied to things outside of us, and therefore our identity is as well.

I think we need to focus on accepting change. Its ok for your identity to change, in a lot of cases it can be a really positive thing. I think that is how we deal with the conundrum of identity. Obviously it is easier said than done, stuggling with how your view yourself is part of the human condition, no one is perfect, so sticking to your ideals 100% of the time isn't possible. Being comfortable with change is something we don't really learn in any formal way in school, its a skill we develop over time, and it really helps when you put a conscious effort into learning how to deal with it.