A search for identity

It's been a known stereotype- and yet all sterotypes have some degree of truth in them- that twenty-somethings are in search of their identity. Who am I? What is my life about? Whom should I be with for the rest of my life?What is my purpose? These questions perplex and concern us.

Sometimes I wonder if we have such a thing as an identity. For some reason, I am waking up to my adulthood. I suddenly have my own values, my own ideas, opinions and am not shy to share them with others. And yet, how did this personality come about? I was brought up in a loving household, taught certain values and ideas. However, I also seem to possess certain personal values. How did this come about? Why do I love one author over another? Why do I prefer Asian food to Mexican? Why am I paradoxically outgoing and reserved? Can I actually ever really know who "I" am?

We can define ourselves via our hobbies, interests, dislikes and likes, etc. Yet this seems so limited. Simply because I like hiking and swimming does not make me an athlete. The fact that I love Brahms does not define me as a music lover. I chose to study English literature, yet I would not call myself a poet, and have only recently begun to think of myself as a potential author.

Perhaps, once we reach our thirties, we will "find ourselves". For some reason, I doubt it. In any case, I don't really mind searching for an identity. It's a complex and tiring project, agreed, but it definitively is rewarding when one finally understands just a piece of oneself. Let's face it- in some odd manner, it seems that one knows oneself the least.