Have you ever returned to that place where you keep the painful and inconvenient memories you chose to discard along the way?
The evolution of our individual uniqueness weaves through our life experiences in unpredictable paths as we mature. It is a normal and transforming process by which, increasingly sophisticated forms of individuality develop from an initial sense of identity and self-concept. As we bond with our family and conform to society’s culture, mores, traditions, language, and expectations, we abandon our previous identities and store them, along with other experiences we seek to forget, inside a protective subconscious place we rarely choose to acknowledge or visit.
If your path through individualization, however, is usurped by an event so powerful that it changes the trajectory of your life, thrusting you into a new reality where the truths you once built your life upon no longer apply, then what becomes of you?
If at an age when socialization and acceptance are a priority but others interpret your uniqueness as nonconforming, how do you rebuild your identity in order to assimilate? I know the answers all too well.
