The Façade of Identity

Who are you?

The question itself may mean little when you contemplate the deeper psychological implications of said question, and many of us do not understand what it is we are answering. There are many personality traits and strings that all link together to form what we see as an 'identity' for ourselves, but to what extent does this identity represent who we really are?

Let me place your mind in a scene; you attend a party with all the popular friends, and want to look as impressive and as interesting as possible. For the guys, chances are you make yourself look stronger and more of whatever you take to mean 'manly'. For the girls, you most likely put on some make-up and show yourself off to public eyes as the 'prettiest thing around'.

All social stereotypes, I know. However, the fact remains that when we are in public view we attempt to change ourselves into what we think would make us more favoured by the community in which we live. The second primary question to appear in this post is 'what is the point?’

We all have our certain positions in society which are given to us by said society, due to the manner in which we conduct ourselves in public view. This idea of position gives us a sense of purpose and placement in the community, however this placement of our lives and future, is based on the impression we give to the people around us; and to a great degree that impression is a false lead to the real people we are. So what is the point in living out these false identities only to have our world around us formed in a lie? To many, the answer could be something related to Fear.

Fear is a powerful motivator, and the fear of failure is possibly one of the greatest motivations to influence us into doing what we usually wouldn't. The fear of being cast out of society could attribute to the false identity issue many people have. A popular work of fiction written many a time ago, lends itself to the inverse of this issue; of a person who deals with complete rejection from society, and how it reveals the common crowds' absolute dependency on society. Now, although this might simply be a work of fiction, it still bring about the idea of 'fear of self'. The fear of insufficiency to contribute to society. How can we fear ourselves if we never trust ourselves to reveal our true identity to the eyes of the community around us?

Trust in ourselves is one of the most difficult emotions to attain, and no matter when you accomplish such an achievement, the time will always come when you begin to question your motives and morals. Trust is a thing which cannot be maintained or improved, and we will always take blows to our self-image, but the important component of a damaging experience is to have the willpower to get back up and rebuild what was lost and learn from the mistake you made.

We all have our secrets, our dark passengers. We all have the right to keep sensitive information to ourselves as long as we are the only ones it affects. But do not let these secrets become life changing or harmful to your image. Do not be who society dictates or expects you to be. Be unexpected and unique. Keep your image clean and true, and most importantly...

Be Yourself!