Who even am I anymore? An exercise to get your answer.
“Who even am I anymore?” is a valid question And, in my experience, we tend to ask it after:
Our to-do list has been all-consuming and unending
We’re cooking while cleaning out email (phone in the sauce, anyone!?)
Our friends or family are, at best, getting 70% of our attention while we’re worried about something else
Our team has 12 more questions we’ve got to answer by EOD
The dog hasn’t been taken out
Our boss has asked us to sign back on to do one more thing
We fall asleep at odd times, and not in our bed
“Who even am I anymore?” comes up when we’ve fallen into DOING instead of BEING.
We can get caught up in draining cycles of doing, trying, and disconnected action through sheer force. The nicest version of this looks like pushing a child who wants to go higher and higher on a swing. When we are working through force, we can get frustrated each time the swing and child comes back to us (isn’t this over yet?). We may attempt to speed up the process by pushing the swing at twice the frequency only to be met with difficulty, a bumpy ride for the child, and perhaps even some lost teeth for us.
BEING is about operating with effortless power, driven by who we uniquely and authentically are.
When we operate from a place of authenticity, we match our inner selves with our outer goals and actions and this alignment opens doors. We can flow through tasks, meetings and engagements with more rhythm, connection to our beliefs and preferences.
Here’s how to recenter your being and get back in touch with your strengths, gifts, qualities and values.
First: Reflect on the best of who you are, what others reflect back to you, and your core beliefs.
What are your top 5 core values?
What have your friends or family shared they admire about you?
What are things that come naturally to you?
What are the attributes you like most about yourself?
When do you feel most passionate, fulfilled, actualized?
What’s something that differentiates you from others?
What would you like more of in your life?
Second: Circle the 5-10 most important words from the lists you made.
Third: Transform each of your circled words into a noun.
“Being healthy” becomes “health”
“Memorable” becomes “memory”
“Generous” becomes “generosity”
Fourth: Write each of these nouns in an, “I Am” statement
I am Health
I am Memory
I am Generosity
Finally: Seriously consider all of your I Am statements in relation to this question, “Who even am I anymore?”
How do these resonate with your current priorities, routines, or lifestyle?
How could these resonate more deeply in your life?
What gifts do you bring through who you are?
How can you continue to share these gifts with those around you?
