Top 10 Ways The World Will Let You Know Who You Are – Are You Listening?

You have choices to make in life, and your preferences will steer the direction in which you go. But, if you don’t make a decision, the world will decide for you because indecision is a decision of sorts. 

The moment you arrive on this planet, newly born, you haven’t experienced anything yet. At that point, you know nothing. One moment you’re in a warm cocoon, and the next, you’re met with chaos – it’s bright lights, cold, and noise. You’re screaming your lungs out as blurs pass before your eyes, and everything is too much. 

You see shapes, and those shapes become familiar patterns soon enough, but you later learn they are faces. You hear the noise that you later understand to be voiced. Some of those voices are more familiar than others, and eventually, you learn what to call those familiar voices, whether it’s mama, umma, daddy, or papa. 

As you grow in awareness of everything around you, there’s one thing you’re not yet aware of – you. That understanding won’t come until sometime later. The point at which an adult points at an image in the mirror and tells you it’s you. 

Even then, it takes some time to understand what that truly means. And there’s more to it than oh, that’s me. A lot goes into making up who you are as a person. 

1. “The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.” – Carl Jung. 

• Societal Norms 
  

The world was telling you who you were early on in your life. The earliest experience of this is when societal standards guide your parents to dress you in a specific way (blue or pink?) and purchase specific toys (cars or dolls?). When little girls don’t fall into those boxes, they’re called tomboys. 

When little boys don’t fit the mould, they are labelled tomgirls. It might seem silly, but it is the first human encounter in the world telling people who they are before they can figure it out for themselves. Or perhaps more who they should be. 

• Deeper Societal Norms
  

Societal norms don’t end in childhood. It’s something that will continue throughout your life. It’s why there are fewer women in STEM versus men. And why there are more women in nursing jobs than men. When women choose STEM, they often have a difficult time breaking in. When men select nursing jobs, they often have to deal with opinions about it not being a man’s job. It’s the world telling men they shouldn’t be caregivers and suggesting that women shouldn’t be analytical, logical, or scientific. 

• On A Path 
  

When you don’t make a decision, the world decides for you. You start in a job to do it for now, but then you start, and it’s comfortable. You don’t break out of it because it pays the bills, and it’s okay. Don’t you want something more than acceptable? 

• Dealing with People
  

You won’t like everyone you meet, and not everyone will like you. But the world has a way of showing you who you are when you’re dealing with the issue of forgiveness. Sometimes you’re forced into situations you didn’t choose, but how you react to those moments will tell you everything you need to know about who you are. 

• The Mirror Of Struggle

When you experience adversity, the world has a way of showing you exactly what you’re capable of. You’re stronger than you think, but sometimes it doesn’t come out until you need it. 

• Your Ego Is A Danger
  

There may have been moments when you thought of yourself as a mighty conqueror; other times, you might think you’re a pretender who can’t get anything right. Your ego can be your worst enemy or your best friend. It’s like a grab-bag of feelings, and anything can come out. The world often has a large hand in our acquired identities. The world has a way of showing you what ego is and what’s real. 

• Down to Brass Tacks
  

When the world has thrown everything at you, what do you do? When it comes down to brass tacks, the world will show you how strong and capable you are. When the chips are down, you have no choice but to fight. How you fight, though, is what you will find out if you don’t have a strong enough handle on who you are. 

• Love
  

If you tend to date total duds, the world shows you something about yourself. Maybe you’re a doormat. Perhaps you don’t respect yourself enough. Maybe you have terrible taste.

You need to recognise what the world is showing you based on the patterns in your love life. It isn’t justyour love life; patterns are everywhere in life, and often, it’s the world trying to show you something. 

1. “The World is a great mirror. It reflects what you are. If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the World will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you. The World is what you are.” – Thomas Dreier.

Think about how the world will tell you who you are if you don’t figure it out yourself. But maybe we need to reframe how we’re thinking about it. Rather than the world showing you who you should be – think about the world showing you who you could be. 

All you need to do is start listening to what it’s trying to tell you. And maybe you can start by turning back time to the point in your life when you saw yourself in the mirror and recognised that you were looking at yourself.