“Who are you?” seems like an easy question to answer, but it’s often more difficult to sum up who you are quickly. Do you talk about where you were born and raised, or do you talk about work? Your hobbies, faith (or lack of faith), and other things that define you? Favorite foods, music, movies, and other things? We kick off this episode with this very question and discover that it’s not so easy to sum up one’s identity in an elevator speech.
Childhood undoubtedly plays a huge part of one’s identity. We spend some time discussing the one experience from early in our lives — more than any others — that is responsible for who we are today. Next, we talk about other influences on who we are and what effect those influences have had on how we carry ourselves today…and how we interact with others.
Some people carry physical identifiers of who they are on their bodies. We talk about the tattoos we have, what they mean to us, and if we’d like to get more. From there, we ask if individuality is a western ideal — a bigger thing in America than in other countries? History is full of countries that attempted to stifle individuality. Is there an advantage of a society that puts more stock in everyone together for everyone, or does it take a nation of individuals to make a nation work best?
Individuality is an ever-changing thing, even if one can be — on some level — the same good or bad person they’ve been since they are young. Even into adulthood, asking “What do you want to be when you grow up?” can bring what matters most to us to the surface. We ask each other what we still aspire to be. (It’s a rare moment when something we say is something we believe should be what everyone aspires to be, but it’s safe to say we both believe that Shawn’s answer to this question should be everybody’s answer.)
We wrap it all up asking each other is we turned out how we thought we would. Find out if we became the people our childhood selves thought we’d be…
As always, we’d love to hear your answers to any of the things discussed in this episode. Let’s start with “Who are you…?”
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Well… I hope my childhood doesn’t define me. Of course I had a lot of positive experiences, but a lot of it was pretty effed up. As a baby, I spent some time being neglected in an orphanage. As a child, I lived in poverty in Japan. Lived on the beach in California. My parents were schizophrenic. My dad was a hard core drug addict when we lived in Vancouver. A lot of it I don’t remember. My parents separated when I was 7, and the next day I found myself in another country. Then as you know, I was bullied all through middle and high school. I was the tall, skinny, poor, shy, loner redhead. I spent my early adulthood kind of wandering aimless. So now I look back and am amazed at how lucky I am to be where I am and who I am today. I am a writer, and I love it!
Thanks for this podcast! 🙂
I think I was fortunate in that my mom’s side was pretty grounded. Sure, the hillbilly side has some stories, but the family I was around…was a very positive influence on me. So…when I visited my dad and saw him selling weed and guns and who knows what else, it was a glimpse into a life I didn’t want. It was something I wasn’t forced to live with, though; I always had my mom’s side of the family to look up to.
I never like speaking for others, but I’d guess that part of what makes your writing interesting is your view of the world. I love your fascination with technology and that, despite having a less-than-stellar childhood, you function better than many adults I’ve met with ideal childhoods.
This was one of my favorite podcasts, simply because I’ve always just done my thing. I rarely think of why I do things, or even given too much thought to “who am I?” So it was neat to be forced to think and talk about identity with Shawn for an hour.
And…your welcome for this podcast–glad you liked it!
Rub it in, everyone. I had a childhood about which I can have no complaints. I’m just not that interesting, OK? You all need to stop your discrimination against middle-class white folks with no real problems.
You lived in Nebraska…that’s your hardship, Shawn! Remember the winter night on the cold plains when you had to cut open a Tauntaun to make it through the night? (Still can’t believe George Lucas stole a defining moment of your youth for his own gain!) 😉
It was a hobo. I’m still on probation.