Let Go of your Identity Labels - Seek Pure Happiness !
- Rhucha Kulkarni
- Mar 9
- 5 min read
In our earlier blog, we spoke about Roles and Identities and how it correlates with Happiness. Here we explore it into more depth using the concept of “Identity Label”.
What is Identity-Label?
We earlier read about how our Identities stem from the many Roles we take on – employee, spouse, parent, son/daughter, and so on and so forth. Labels are what we give ourselves – we often define ourselves by who we are, what we do (for a living), what our passions are, and so on.
Labels give us something by which we can define ourselves, and justify who we are.. Thus, these Labels reinforce our Identity and are an unconscious source of safety for the protection of our Ego, in addition to being a way to judge ourselves in comparison to others*3.
Imagine – if you remove your labels… how will you answer the question….
”Who am I?”
Labels and Identities thus, are a source of creating an image of “being”. This image allocates tangible meaning to our existence.
The Flipside of “Living in Labels”
While Identities and Labels create an “image” of who are as a living being, if we begin to live by only our Identity and Label, there is a chance to be entranced by this image we are creating. We start linking our own value and worth with our Identities and Labels.
Imagine a situation – a Label goes off – for example, a dedicated and successful employee suddenly loses his or her job, for whatever reasons, within or beyond control. The Label of “employee” suddenly goes off – a Label which was a “defining construct” in the person’s life. Another case – the Label of parent suddenly goes off when children fly the nest, leaving a sense of loss of purpose and loss of identity for parents. The sudden disappearance of a Label leaves a void - after all this was a key Label for the person to justify his or her self-worth.
In situations where Labels do not go off, they may create a cocoon of limiting beliefs, because we have certain pre-conceived notions curated by society and popular culture. For example, mothers are supposed to be self-sacrificing, teenagers are popularly “rebellious”, and so on. Such popular constructs are associated with Roles, Labels and Identities, and they lead to “limiting beliefs”. These limiting beliefs limit our thinking and potential by restricting us to the “Cocoon”.
A Personal Story of Releasing a Label
As a creative entrepreneur (my Label), I drew a lot of my sense of “being” from my Role of “professional photographer” (my Identity). However, a setback along the way arrived in terms of a leg injury, due to which I had to pause my shoots for a certain period of time to ensure a sustained recovery. The initial few weeks were tough – I simply could not accept that my Label of “photographer” and Identity of “creative entrepreneur” had suddenly vanished into thin air – what ensued was a core Identity Crisis, pushing me into a sad and worried emotional state. In my mind, my hard work of building a business from scratch-up (Life in Clicks Photography), had gone total waste ! “What now, What Next?”, was driving my mind insane!
The resource-gathering person that I am, I dug into psychology-theory and spirituality to unearth the answers of how to manage this undesirable emotional state and how to deal with “failure”. Embracing mindfulness and happiness-science helped me understand that I was living in the superficial world of “Roles”, Identities”, and “Labels”. Calling myself a professional photographer, entrepreneur, creative solopreneur had become my sole source of happiness. Naturally, when these “tags” evaporated into thin air, the happiness disappeared too.
With this awareness, began a journey of Letting Go – I started working towards giving up my “Identity” and “Label” as my source of Happiness. Disassociating from being merely a “photographer” and “creative entrepreneur” opened up new avenues. Earlier I was had a limiting belief – “photographer or nothing” – this stemmed from my “1 or none” attitude. But life is a spectrum, it cannot be “1 or none”. As I started to peel the layers of my Identity, a lot of positives emerged for me -
· Became an Author: I published my Book of Poetry – Soulace, a dream I had wanting to achieve since the past several years – Finally I got the mental bandwidth to work on this !
· Sought Spiritual Answers: I started a Spiritual practice and cultivated belief beyond the obvious, opening up a positive state of mind – the journey of trying to become a “Peaceful Soul” continues!
· Embarked upon Coaching: I discovered Happiness Coaching, Mindfulness Coaching and ICF Coaching, and started enjoying these new avenues of self-reflection and self-discovery. · Other Labels opened up for me in gracious ways - I could see beyond the immediate “Roles” and “Labels” and enjoy the entirety of being me – a creative, a spouse, an author, a health enthusiast, a well-rounded human being who could derive her Joy and Peace from not just one Source, but many Sources!
· I started embracing a state of balance and harmony, of just “being” rather than “doing”, of refraining from constantly “striving” to “be more”. This unlocked a sense of contentment and acceptance.
So much more unveiled for me over the course of this physical injury and consequent process of “Letting Go”.
Little did I know that breaking these beliefs and barriers of “Identities” and “Labels” would open up new professional avenues beyond the label of “Photographer” - over the course of a year, I trained to become a certified Life Coach bringing to life “MojoMantra Coaching” ! The journey of learning continues as I word towards Advanced level of Coaching credentialing. The Universe conspired, and with this positive state of mind and positive practices along with intense physical therapy, I was able to get back to my photography in a new way – with renewed Focus and a sense of Gratitude.
Perhaps…
More importantly…
What opened up was a new Way of Being – a more Attuned-Aware-Appreciative Self – a True Self which was more at peace with myself and with the world around me ! Of course, this is an ongoing Journey … But I am full of Gratitude for having listened to what the cosmos was trying to instil in me, all along –
That I am much more than my Roles, Labels and Identities…
That I am a Higher Power…
That I am Beyond these Boundaries…
In this journey, my constant ongoing effort is to no longer define myself by these “tags”, but by removing “tags”. This does not mean that I am not a “photographer”, “coach”, “writer”, etc. it just means I choose to not define my Happiness with these tags.
In a Nutshell…
Letting go of Identities and Labels is not without its pitfalls – as I peeled the layers, what came rushing in was huge self-doubt, self-criticism and loss of identity – a scary sense of losing “Who I Am”. But today, at the core, I am able to refocus and relook at the Real Me – what truly matters.
It is essential to live an authentic and fulfilling life, focusing on what truly matters to us as Human Beings, to unleash and live our Mojo effortlessly, every day - this will empower us to become a Higher, Happy Self !
Are you willing to “Let Go” to “Get More” out of life?
Connect with us @ mojomantra.coaching@gmail.com to build better habits around content consumption!
Sources:
*1 https://tinybuddha.com/blog/letting-go-of-our-past-identities-when-its-time-to-move-on-and-evolve/
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