Life is long – at times alluring and other times challenging. It has its boring days, few and far between. We also sometimes find ourselves stuck – either we are not moving forward or have a weird feeling that we are moving backwards.
It is unnatural to not want and desire change in life. We all grow and evolve as we age, and with it does our concept of who are.
But the ridiculous thing about people is that they who want change keep doing things the same way, and yet want a different result. The act is as silly as your shoes looking for their laces by walking in circles.
Einstein observed this behavior in people, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’
Perhaps, it is that part in us that most of us are afraid to face. A part that tells us that we must change our identity and reinvent ourselves. People dread the idea of change: It brings forth the unknown. It means treading into unfamiliar terrain. Often people tend to be too attached to the idea of their identity i.e. who they think they are. They believe in what their upbringing told them about who they are or can become.
People can do extreme things to avoid change, and face the unknown. They could waste life years going around in circles looking for the laces of their shoes, than to be brutally honest with themselves. And yet change is innate is us as evolving beings. We grow and evolve, and there is an innate craving in us to become bigger and better versions of ourselves.
What many people don’t realise is that to grow we have got to be open to the idea that our identity is not fixed. It is not permanent. It is fluid.
Our identity can be reinvented – and at our will. As we wish it to be. Our identity can become as impermanent as the day.
A stable and permanent sense of a self never worked. As we go through life, we have to learn to modify the content of our identities. To grow and move forwards, we have got to ease to the idea of a fluid identity. We got to play with it and define it the way we want. Which of course would mean that we mustn’t take ourselves seriously. And we must be able to free ourselves from how we had defined ourselves in the past.
When you play the game of reinventing ourselves – mix and match aspects that you want, and remove those that you don’t desire in you – watch how your life changes as you change the content of your character. “You are then changing the rules of the game without trying to change the game itself.” – Zat Rana.
Learning to reinvent yourself means learning to change aspects of your identity, and thus the contents of your personality. Whatever change you want in life, ask yourself, “What kind of a person do I have to become in order to…?”
Feel that new outcome, be that new you.
Radhika Mia
www.radhika-mia.com
Instagram: radhika_mia
Photo: Christian Schloe
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