Our name does not necessarily single us out from the crowd because there can be 2000 other people with the same name in the same area as you. A bit of an exaggeration, but not unlikely.
A name is just an arrangement of letters that someone saw fit to call you by. Well, at least that is how I see it. Whenever I want something to be easy, I pray for it to be as “easy as telling someone my name”. It is simply something we cannot miss no matter what state we are in… most times.
Growing up is easy if you know who you are. No, not your name, WHO YOU ARE. See, many people can be called “Sarah” but what differentiates them is not how they look physically, but their personality, their experiences, their life-adaptations.
The Identity Crisis hits us fairly young. When we are just teenagers trying to float on the latest trend.
And then, we notice that trends fade.
Our idols get older and are replaced by new people in the game, they stop making a certain type of clothing… we just get with the program- that it is difficult to keep up with everything we thought we had under control. Then we are stuck.
We have to find an identity. And not just that… but stability as well.
Getting to know yourself is like finding out new things about someone you thought you knew. We pay so much attention to other people and building relationships by finding out their dislikes when we barely know why we randomly get sad or frustrated over silly things.
The search for identity is never easy. It is heavy, difficult, and annoying. This is because we think we know ourselves so well that there is nothing left to figure out anyway!
I learn things about myself every single day. How? Exposure. Get to experience new things, see your reactions towards them, what you can tolerate and you cannot- is what sets the foundation of self-definition. Even the Bible encourages us to let our “yes be yes and our no be no” (Matthew 5:37). This means that what we agree to is what we are fully okay with letting happen and what we object to should be stopped immediately. With no… “backsies”. For a lack of better words.
Knowing this about yourself gives you leeway to know what to change and measure the benefits and destruction caused by what you allow and object to. It seems like the longest process because you are trying to see something that is right in front of your face…. Have you noticed that we can identify faults we aren’t involved in? It is EXACTLY like that.
So step one of getting to know yourself, is making the decision to get to know yourself. Write down your do’s and don’ts… redefine your goals and future plans. And once you know what you stand for, all the extra weight will just fall off because you will know what belongs and what does not! THEN when you tell people your name, it will mean much more than a sequence of letters. It will carry morals, experiences, downfalls, successes…and most importantly, identity.
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