Identity Crisis – Changing Times

Identity Crisis is a situation where one begins to question his own existence, becoming unable to distinguish his reality from his inner conscience.  Changing times, constant pressure, cyclic temporary bouts of depression, unimaginable periods of misery, feeling hated, a feeling of not belonging and an ever so unpredictable timeline.  These are just some of the million things teenagers like me have to face and deal with everyday.  We do a highly commendable job at keeping the never ending list of negatives at bay. Believe me when I tell you that. We’ve always survived, because we know we aren’t alone.  There are billions like us, billions of others who have already gone through what we have, and billions that will eventually go through the same thing.  We’ve understood that it’s just basic human nature to feel incompetent because we’re the same people who have raised the bar.  We’ve raised it so high, we’re potentially crippling ourselves in our efforts to obtain what we’re expected to achieve.  We also understand that like always, we will sustain and grow up to become great people one day or the other, but it has always bothered me, not knowing why it has to be such a struggle.  Why do the normal things seem extraordinarily impossible? Why does even a simple task like opening a milk carton turn into a competition?  Why do we have to go through so much pain, just so we can become normal adults?  The things we go through as we grow up changes us.  It’s a permanent dent on who we really are.  Ultimately, each and every one of us out there, at some point in time experience an annoying, confusing and frustrating period of losing track of things.

When a person has a hard time figuring out what is actually going on with his life, he’s just being human.  But if the same person has trouble figuring out who he really is, he’s having an identity crisis. If he looks at the mirror in the morning and doesn’t recognize what his eyes perceive, he’s having an identity crisis.  If he thinks he cannot bridge the gap between his inner conscience and outer appearance, he’s having an identity crisis.  He doesn’t know who he really is, anymore.  He may not necessarily like the person he’s become.  He’s just another thing walking the earth with an eye for money and materialistic pleasures.  It isn’t impossible, but it’s a really tough job trying to locate people who’re in this world to actually enjoy themselves, discover their purpose on earth and take life at face value, as it comes.  An identity crisis can be particularly hard to handle, when you’re at a stage in life where you’ve to make important decisions with so many unanswered questions in mind.

Personally, I believe that all this happens because we don’t live for ourselves.  Most of us live a check list for a life.  We live our lives like it was a sequence of missions, checking boxes as we surpass checkpoints.  We live to please.  We have a behemoth of a burden resting on our shoulders psychologically.  We need to grow up, study hard, work harder, make money, get married, have kids, get them to study hard, get them married, play with our grandkids and die.  I mean, isn’t that what we’re all thinking every now and then?  Nine out of ten students getting a college education would tell you that they’re in it for the money and a secure future.  The one that says he’s in it out of sheer passion and interest, that’s the one we must strive to become. But ultimately, the right one is the one that ends up living the life of an outcast.  It is only when we realize that it was that person who did what he did because he wanted to and not because he was told to lived a successful, satisfying and peaceful life that we think back to all the things we could’ve and should’ve done.

The best thing one can do according to me, to combat an identity crisis, is getting a hold of who you really are at a very early stage in your adolescence, and never letting go.  Get to know yourself before the world can corrupt you.  Live a life that defines you, live a life you will remember.  It might be a very amateur, childish version of yourself but make sure you build on it with the experience you gather as you walk this earth.  Live in the present. Take it one step at a time. Never lose sight of the kid in the attic sitting all alone dreaming of being something only his imagination could create.  A life without regrets is one that is lived to the fullest.  Do not live by a manual.  Do not strive to become a people-pleaser.  Strive to become unique.  Identity crises will come and go, but by doing this, you’re never letting go of the person you really are.  Your inner conscience is always in the clear, and that’s what life’s all about, isn’t it?