Scott Couey

How do you determine your true identity?

The other night I had a strange dream. In my dream, I was in the hospital with severe amnesia. There were people everywhere in my hospital room and I would ask each of them the same question. “Who am I?!” The first person responded with “You are an older brother – you have two younger brothers.” The next person responded, “You are an uncle – you have two nieces and two nephews.” One of the last people I asked told me, “You are a blogger – you write a blog.” I was really frustrated because no one really answered my question.

This dream was very telling, because I am going through a “loss of identity” period of sorts in my life right now. Men tend to find their identity in their job. When you first meet someone, they typically ask what you do for a living. It’s been a rough time because in this sense, I don’t really feel like I know who I am any more. When you go through a period like this in your life, you tend to start comparing yourself to others in a negative light – “Why can’t I look more like <insert person’s name here>?!”  or “Why can’t I be more successful like <insert person’s name here>?!” This can be a dangerous path as we are unique individuals and no one else should be seen as our measuring stick as to who we should be or what we should do.

Have you ever gone through a period like this? What did you do to get out of it?

Photo credit: By SMJJP