Who, Me?
i·den·ti·ty (noun):
1. the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.
Identity is a peculiar thing.
Four years ago today, I would’ve self-identified first and foremost as a collegiate athlete. I’d then probably mention being a native of San Diego, en route to becoming a physical therapist.
Today, however, only one of those three identifications hold true (hint: it’s the one with fantastic weather).
Even last year, I would’ve told you I was a solo-backpacker, aspiring writer and student. I’d share my calling: to touch humanity via storytelling, metaphorical bridge building and exploring different corners of the world.
Although these elements contribute to who people perceive me to be, I’ll choose to leave the space blank. Here’s why:
Like outfits, we wear different versions of ourselves throughout the duration of our lives. And for the first 22 years of mine, I wiggled into body-con dresses that cut off my circulation (in a figurative and literal sense, regretfully). I wholly conformed to labels such as “social,” free spirit and athlete.
I mistook these elements as labels describing the entire package of who I was. In doing so, I was blind to the limitations embedded into my identities. I bought into every fiber of Kasey Altman being synonymous with X, Y & Z, with little space to pepper in anything else.
Unbeknownst to me, these aspects were far from mutually exclusive. I had no idea I could be a beautiful array of contradictions – both athletic and intellectual, petite and fierce, gentle and assertive, compassionate and unapologetic, bubbly and deep, intentional and fearless.
It took time to rewrite these limiting narratives and recognize the potential of an infinite identity, buried under the guise of the 1–3 versions of myself to which I thought I was constrained.
Truth: I can’t select an identity, because identity is static and like the rest of us, I’m constantly evolving. However, I can describe elements of who I am, what I stand for and what keeps me inspired. But these aspects comprise an essence – which isn’t definable in the first place.
Regarding my identity, I know this much for certain: what I am, is human. And who I am, is TBD.
But hey — I’ve shed what confined me from becoming anything & everything.
So stay tuned.
:)
