Introspection and Identity

This is an excerpt from a letter to one of my children who is struggling with questions of identity, dreams, and the reality of where our lives have brought us.

Reassessing and wrestling with my identity has been a feature of my adult life and continues to this day. I’m sure that most thinking people confront their identities from time to time throughout their lives.

From my experience, very little works out as we planned or would have liked. But for me, acceptance of the present (good, bad, or somewhere in between) and working toward whatever dreams I currently hold is the only ‘solution’ (if solution is even a proper way to be thinking about it).

As we age (mature), our vision of ourselves and our social environments (civilisation, or our ‘culture’) matures too. It seems only fitting that our identities would also undergo changes along the way. That’s not ‘good’ or ‘bad’, just how life seems to unfold.

At least, that’s how it’s been for me…

–LE