What is your identity?

You may have noticed that there are many articles, social posts and even many friends of yours tell you, "Create your own identity". Should you have your own identity?

In this article I will put arguments against creating your own identity. This will just be a contrarian theory and not loaded with research papers. You are free to go into a thought experiment and chose an answer that suits your world view. This article's objective would be to influence your thoughts towards an anti-identity.

Identity is anti-identity

Identity is not your independence, it is, in fact, a way to group you into a category and kill your identity.

What's your identity?

• I am a businessman.
• I am a housewife.
• I am a doctor.
• I am a software professional.
• I am a banker.
• I am religious.
• I am a foodie.

Well, once you put yourself into a category, all you did was you generalized yourself in a group.

Now all you will be trying to do is to have a coherence to that group. You will try to do everything that other group members are doing. If you are a government employee, you will want to be frugal, you want your kids to get good education and reach IIT. You want two vacations every year.

If you are a student, then you will study, go to bars for enjoyment, so on and so forth.

By creating an identity for yourself, you will kill yourself and lead the life of the group.

Who benefits from your identity?

THE MARKET.

• This is a product for doctors.
• This is a serial for housewives.
• This is a business hotel only for businessmen.
• This is a blog for foodies.
• Every parent must buy this toy for their kids.
• All marketers use this tool to measure.
• Every doctor uses our ECG machine.
• Every student uses our loyalty app to get discounts for their next purchase.

You see,

it is super easy for the advertisers and businesses to target you if you create an identity for yourself. "You are a target potential customer now".

It is no different for other identities like your social, religious, economic, or any other identities.

I am a Muslim.

So you must go to the mosque, adopt a certain lifestyle, support certain cause etc. Just sold well in these types of identities are your worldview and philosophy.

What is a better alternative to Identity?

Your life's goal must be to create an identity of only yourself, an identity which is difficult for people to put in a category, which is challenging to sell an identity product to.

You can be someone, who loves to earn money, who loves to help people, who are a thinker, who cares for people, one who is passionate, one who is a learner. In that way, you will make it difficult for other people to put you in a group and kill your basic existence itself.

Your identity is you, not Indian, not Hindu, not rich, not poor, not doctor, nor engineers, not husband and wife, not parents. You can have many identities all at once. Let us call this multiple acceptable identities for yourself as your Uniqueness.

When Tendulkar says I am an ex Cricketer, he is ready to get coaching contracts, speaking opportunities, commentator, and he will try to be coherent to do what other ex-cricketer does.

Create uniqueness, not an Identity. Identity may give you some visible success, but the cost that you will pay for that is too big. Because it will convert you into a target customer and expose you to group bias.

Next time when someone asks what you do?

Answer "I am a caring person, who cares for society and family and my kids and other kids by my passionate work which includes coding, writing, talking, networking, helping, thinking, teaching, learning and earning and wanting to earn more" on those lines and see the reaction.

When you stand by yourself and tell people that you are your own identity and that you are unique, and you can change and you can do different things, you immediately start developing high self-esteem. Because now you know that you are unique, you are not like others. You have to create your own standards. You have to create your unique thought process and worldview, a worldview which doesn't have to be compliant to any specific group. You are not sad by what is happening to a group and will not be overjoyed by good things to a group, because you are the group. You take responsibility for your own life and your own goals. You don't need a capitalist or a socialist to tell you what you should do. You also do not want your peers to advise you about what they think you should do.

Now the market, society, your family and your peers, politicians can not influence and control you. Because now, you don't have to comply with any single group's agenda. Now you will become yourself. You can compose music, take photos, make videos, write a blog, pull out humor, do everything that a unique you can do. People should be fascinated by that uniqueness of yours and they should aspire to be like you.

Conclusion

Don't create an identity and don't be a stereotype. Don't let others tell you what you should do because all others with the same identity do it. Liberate yourself from the game of identity and dedicate your life to become unique. That will be a spiritually fulfilling experience for you.

Every genetic trait(humans), ever lived on planet earth over any time can be similar only to 99.99%. Every person ever born and those who are yet to born will all born as unique. Shouldn't you then die the same way? A unique, free of identity life?

Be unique in thoughts, have your unique philosophy, have a unique worldview, have a unique mindset, have unique goals, have a unique style.

Don't have an identity, have uniqueness.