Your Identity Isn't Who You Are

Identity: the fact of what a person is

Often, people confuse who they are with their identity. But those two things are not the same. Who you are describes you are in a moment, a situation, or a relationship. All of what defines who you are can change. If you ground yourself in who you are, then any changes in what surrounds the definition of who you are will require you to completely re-define yourself. For example, who you are is a son, a daughter, a mother, a husband, an employee, a business owner, a student, etc. If you try to ground yourself in these labels, which tell who you are, then as soon as the who changes you have no grounding to stand on.

Your identity is not dependent on external factors, and this means that a change in your situation or relationship does not shake your identity. Therefore, you are able to ground in your identity without being shaken with a change of your relationships, situations or the moment you are in. For example, your identity may be that you are human, that you are a child of God, that you are capable, that you are valuable, etc. Your identity is rooted in truths, and truths are not circumstantial.

When you ground your identity in truths, your identity never changes. So when external factors change - you lose a job, your business closes, a parent passes away, a spouse files for divorce - you can still stay grounded in your identity because your identity of being human, being capable, being valuable has not changed.

With Gratitude,