Your personal identity affects more parts of your life than you might think. Whether you’re searching for your dream career or trying to set boundaries in your relationships, your identity affects your confidence and self-respect.
Many people begin to explore their identity from a young age through play, experimentation, and feedback from their loved ones.
But not all childhoods offered the same opportunity for self-exploration. If your self-identity feels skewed or missing, there is always time to learn about finding your identity.
Becoming comfortable with who you are might seem like an insurmountable challenge right now, but this quick guide can provide the tools you need to get started. Keep reading to learn more.
What is Your Identity
While defining your identity can be convoluted, in its most basic terms, it is how you describe who you are. It is often a combination of factors that make up the person you are and how you find your sense of belonging.
Because identity is affected by your culture, religion, relationships, interests, and more, finding it is often an individualized experience that differs for everyone.
In fact, it may be a journey that doesn’t necessarily have a concrete ending. As life changes, you will change, and so will your identity.
Regardless of your current relationship with your identity, learning about it and becoming comfortable in it is a critical requirement for improved self-esteem and well-being.
What Leads to Identity Crisis
There are some events that can inhibit your ability to explore different types of identities as you grow up.
In adolescence, it’s easier to shift between different interests and opinions. It is this experimentation that helps you learn how to find your identity.
If you were not able to try out different personalities and explore various ways of being, your sense of identity may have felt restrained or delayed.
Childhoods, where there was emotional or physical neglect or even abuse, might have obstructed a child’s ability to comfortably seek out their identity.
The priority for these young children became self-protection. The freedom of play and exploration, in a way, became a threat to their well-being.
How to Find Your Identity
It is not uncommon to feel misguided in your current identity. Even if your childhood was full of love, acceptance, and openness, your sense of self can still be jostled by other life experiences.
You may want to better understand different sexual identities and gender identities. Or, you may be hoping to redirect your career path through an increased sense of self.
Through journaling, questions, and research, you can begin to learn about all the possible directions you can head in to find your identity.
You can also learn from others who have been through the self-identity process in books and podcasts.
Seek out insightful conversations on the intersection of multiple identities as well. If you’re looking to listen right now, click here to check it out!
Importance of Finding Your Identity
The process of finding your identity can be a long and arduous one, but it is a journey worth taking.
With the wealth of information available to you, along with patience and grace, you will be on your way to feeling complete in your identity.
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