From childhood to adulthood, most people change. Maybe they have had an experience that made their personality shift from the one they had as a child, or they simply grew up a lot as a person and do not think the way they did when they were younger. People change, but those changes never betray who they truly are. Identity, Resilience, and Success are all themes that contribute to people’s changes.
As human beings, our identities are all different based on our traits and beliefs, but aren't really changeable. According to the Berkeley Well being Institute, “identity as a person’s sense of self, established by their unique characteristics, affiliations, and social roles.” Certain aspects of our identity might change, while others may remain the same for the remainder of our lives, as they are unchangeable. For example, our ethnicity and race will never change, as we are born that way and stay that way forever. It is undebatable that we cannot wake up and decide that we want to be another race. However, other aspects that make up our identity may change, such as our hobbies and socioeconomic class. We may mature out of our childhood hobbies and become richer or poorer throughout our lives. A study by Psychology Today suggests that “that successful adaptation and adjustment to stressors often requires social identity change.” Another study by choosing Therapy states that 95% of teens have struggled with their identity at some point during their lives and took time to get over it. This means that we have the ability to change socially to adapt to a new environment. Human identity does change, but never wholly.
Resilience plays an important part in our ability to change, as resilience to stay the same or to change is essential for any or no change to take place. According to the community resilience group, there are four types of resilience: Physical resilience, mental resilience, emotional resilience and social resilience. When faced with a challenge, some people are resilient to change and adapt. They work on themselves so that they can fit in and face the new situation. However, this might be a difficult process and take a long time. On the other hand, other people fight to be resilient so that they can be true to themselves and their identity. Whether it is to keep their culture inside them, or to still remain with the same personality traits, there are many reasons why people want to keep the core part of their identity. As previously stated, identity struggles are quite prominent for especially young people, so being resilient to solve and overcome them is important.
We always reach the end of a tunnel after we struggle with changes for a while, and sometimes it might be success. According to Steve Rose, people change “ when motivated by a sense of independence, a sense of competence, and a sense of connection to others.” Over time, we choose to change ourselves and the way that we view things for a better sense of belonging in the world. Our personalities and inner selves may still remain the same, but we act in a new way that might help us succeed socially and financially. Our “Big Fives” may change while still being in relation to each other, and it will usually affect our sense of maturity and overall success in life. Changing personality traits will often make us more self aware and mature, bringing our overall rate of success higher. Success could often be related to the change a person makes.
In conclusion, identity, resilience and success all play into change in people. Although our identities never shift into something completely different, we’re often dissimilar during childhood and adulthood. This is because by gaining new experiences, we change to accommodate the worldviews around us. It is important to realize that changing personality traits and habits does not equal change in identity. At the end of the day, we can do nothing to make the old us disappear into the thin air.
Comentários