Your Identities May Be Limiting You
“Identities are how we view and define ourselves, but sometimes it can limit us from thinking we have any choice to move away from it.”
What do you say when someone asks you, “Who are you?” or “What do you do?” 🙇
Back in 1995 - 2008, I was a shy student. From 2008 - 2013, I’d probably say I was a more outgoing college student. From 2013 - 2019, I was a software engineer.
But now in 2020, I’d say I’m a content creator sharing my personal experiences and lessons learned to spark ideas on intentional living.
Between 1995 and 2020, you can tell that I had 4 distinct chapters in my life and 4 identities that were a part of those respective chapters. They’re all different in some way, but they helped shape who I am today.
Identities are how we view and define ourselves, but sometimes it can limit us from thinking we have any choice to move away from it. They can be as large of an identity as being a student or what our careers are at the time, or as small as being shy, out-going, frugal, irresponsible, etc.
Although I don’t consciously search to change my identity all the time, I tend to reflect on whether my identity is serving my current purpose and lifestyle or not. If not, what do I need to change? 🤔
Consciously Break Away From Identities
Your current identity SHOULD NOT define the rest of your life. 🔑
When you gain more experience, knowledge of the world and of yourself (your goals in life, what you value), you may have a different interest or mission than what you had before. You're allowed to break away from your current identity that doesn’t serve you anymore. 🤯
I knew that my identity as a software engineer has served me well, but it won’t help me with my current goals for Kurative Co. Although it was a difficult decision, I set that software engineering identity aside.
Breaking Away From Your Identities is Worth It
“Take ownership of what you want to do and who you want to become.”
There are a ton of reasons why we may feel bad for breaking away from our current identities. Maybe it's spending too much time and money studying one major to not use it as a career. Or maybe we thought we can only learn in school, and now that we aren't there anymore, we feel stuck. Maybe there's pressure externally (culture, family, or society) or maybe internally (what we tell ourselves) to keep our current identities. 😱
Instead of thinking that changing our identities will be a wasteful part of our lives, we can see it as something that helped us get to where we are now. We can view our identity to fit the purpose or mission we’re trying to pursue. We can start a new chapter. 💪
An aspect of intentional living is curating your own life on your own terms. That means that with strategic and conscious planning, you can change what you do as a career, you can improve on anything you struggle with, and you can become the person that you want to be. 🙌
My final thought about identity is this: If you're happy with your identities, there's no need to change it. There are no expectations to change any part of you. But even changing your identity from a close-minded person to a more open-minded one is a significant change. Know what identities are not serving your life anymore and what are. Take ownership of what you want to do and who you want to become.
In 2019, my identity was a software engineer. In 2020, my new identity is a content creator sharing my personal experiences and lessons learned to inspire and guide those who want to live an intentional life.
What identity is holding you back from your intentional life that you’re ready to break away from?
Send me an email and let me know!