Identity

It seems to me that perhaps it is just something with my age demographic, but I have found it to be that people have become very identity-oriented. Again, maybe I'm just analyzing my age range more than the zeitgeist, but either way it seems to be true. People don't really know who they are so they pick something they would like to be and run with it. I feel like a lot of people really just can't stand the idea of not identifying with external things. We like trying to relate to others by finding things in common with them, like religion, fanbases, or jobs. But I am not a doctor. I work as a doctor. But a doctor is not who I am. (My profession is not a doctor, just to avoid confusion!) I AM a brony. It isn't that I like a TV show. No. I identify with that thing. Same with regard to pretty much everything! But how healthy is it for us on the inside to relate to things and to claim to be things when they aren't really who we are? Personality can be manipulated, yes, but I think that is something far closer to who we are than the labeling the things we spend our time doing and putting ourselves under that label. I suspect it's largely because so many people feel lost in life and to try to give them something familiar they put an anchor down. Often times many anchors, in fact. But when we lay down an anchor, we confuse the ship itself for the anchor. Shall I continue with this analogy? Regardless, people do so much to relate their internal self with their external self. This isn't inherently bad. A metaphor is the relating of one thing to another and I believe that it is something hugely helpful in getting others to understand what someone means by something. However, in the process of creating these relations, I feel like we lose sight of which part is real. Not to get too preachy, (though that's what this whole blog is really, isn't it?) but I would say consider who you are internally and externally and make sure you know which part is really you and which part is what you are relating to.

So please, have a relatively nice day, and perhaps a delightful December holiday providing you celebrate one, and assuming I do not post here between now and your December holiday.