Am I my name?
Am I my passion and hobbies?
Am I my job or my reputation?
Am I my country of origin?
Am I my culture?
Am I the accumulation of my past experiences?
Am I my thoughts, my words, and what I say?
Am I what I tell you about me?
Am I what you think about me?
Am I a collection of some social terminologies?
Or am I a free earthly entity?
What defines my identity?
Who would I be if there was no society?
Who am I at my soul?
Do I need to be defined?
Is there space for fluidity?
I have just started using Steemit and I was wondering whether I should use my real name on my channel or not. I heard this platform was about content creation, and I noticed that most people create their posts under their real name, so all the merit goes to them, not to some anonymous user, who cannot be verified.
I noticed that most users have an ‘introduceyourself’ post, where they introduce themselves by stating their name, passion, hobbies, interests, jobs, qualifications, the place where they live or come from, and explaining what kind of posts they plan to create in the future etc. And even though I sometimes like to watch such content, and hear about likeminded people and their lives, I myself feel uncomfortable doing such introduction. Describing myself with some bullet points of some social terms feels like such a burden. It feels like a weird nonsense of a social construct. By telling who I am, I am putting myself in a box inevitably, whereas we change everyday, and describing ourselves in social terms is not necessarily what we are at our core, deep inside our soul.
So I felt uncomfortable using my real name and introducing myself in a ‘proper way’ on this site. I thought I might use this site as an experimentation in writing and content creation, and starting from a blank slate, where I can be anonymous, gives me a sense of freedom, where I can be whatever I want to be. Where I am not hindered by my name, my social ‘identity’, my qualifications and talents, and my online history like websites, blogs, and posts elsewhere. Even though that could be a beneficial form of self-expression, to connect with like-minded people on a more personal level. But I wanted to remain incognito for now, and enjoy the freedom of this blank slate.
And this made me start thinking about what identity really is? What are we if we take away all the social framework that society has built for us? After all, the social constructions are not ours. We have inherited them, they have been passed down to us, we have been indoctrinated into them; but until we at least question them and take some alternatives into consideration, we can’t even say that they are really ours.
So, who are you if you are considering yourself outside of the box of any social constraints? Who are you at your soul? How would you describe yourself without using any social terms like ‘I’m a photographer’, ‘I’m a teacher’, ‘I study finance’ etc.? Do your social achievements encapsulate your true self and identity? Do you associate with your given name? What name would you give yourself if it was not down to your parents to stick a name on you? What is your true identity?
Written by Nightcreature
Photo source: Pixabay
Congrats!
I have found your work to be exceptional and thus I have featured you in this week's Pay it Forward curation contest. As such, I have followed you, upvoted and resteemed this post and plan to watch your posts in the future. Keep up the great work!
https://steemit.com/payitforward/@viking-ventures/my-entry-for-the-pay-it-forward-curation-contest-week-7
Hello @viking-ventures! Thank you so much for your kind feedback and including me in this contest :). I will go and have a read via the link, to find out more about it! I have followed you back, and will keep an eye in your posts and activity in the future. Much love! <3
I found your great post because of @viking-ventures entry.
@thedarkhorse Thank you to both of you for your nice comments! <3
Thank you in return.
If you have a love of fiction - especially the blend of romance, fantasy, action and adventure that I write, I hope you will check out my series - which has a link to the Dbooks pages, where you can catch up on everything you've missed up to this point. :-)
@viking-ventures featured you in the "Pay It Forward " curation contest . That is how I found your post
Hello @wolfhart! Thank you!
I know what you mean, actually. I opted to use my real first name and my picture in my icon but it occurred to me that maybe it was better to go anonymous. You know, in the spirit of crypto and in the spirit of the early internet, before Facebook and the age of online identities and oversharing. It's strange how the crypto world promotes transparency and anonymity at once, and that philosophy is evident in Steemit as well with its open wallets and open blockchain transactions.
Anyway, this is a great post, and I'm going to follow you. I hope you stick with us.
Hi! I have followed you back! :) Thank you so much for your nice comment. <3 I also heard something like once your post is live on steemit, it cannot be deleted (?), or at least it definitely stays on the blockchain. This also made me want to stay anonymous right now...
It becomes permanent after it pays out (in one week). I'm definitely not a fan of that aspect, personally...
Welcome to steemit! This is a wonderfully thought provoking first post; thank you for that :)
I found your post because @viking-ventures included it in her entry for the Pay it Forward Curation Contest. You should think about joining us next week :)
I also work with a group called @newbieresteemday and @greetersguild; both welcome, support, and mentor new steemians. They each have a Discord channel as well...a place for you to connect with others. I'm going to come back as one of these and resteem your post in the hopes of it getting more exposure :)
Hi! Thank you so much for your support! <3 And thanks for the group suggestions. There seems to be more and more interesting pages and ideas coming up on this site. I will look into them for sure as time allows! Much love! <3
Well stated. I'm also just getting into this and liked what you had to say.
Thank you so much! <3
This is really very thought provoking, @nightcreature.
It goes against the popular introduceyourself thinking yet encouraged. I like your originality of thought!
Thank you so much @mirrors, for taking the time to read! <3
The pleasure is mine, @nightcreature.
Hello and welcome to Steemit. I found your post by a submission in the Pay it Forward challenge by @viking-ventures. The assessment of your self awareness was correct. As Casteneda said, we are chained by our personal history with those we interact with regularly. I hope you find being free of those chains rewarding.
Hi! That's a great quote here. Yes, we should try to be free from those chains :)... by questioning everything, re-evaluating everything. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and the nice comment! :)
Hi @nightcreature and welcome to steemit! What an awesome intro post :)
Congratulations you have been resteemed as part of #newbieresteemday's top posts for the day! ...
We invite you to use our tag to connect with more of our members. To learn more: Come Join Us!!! (Newbie Resteem Initiative)
Cheers,
@lynncoyle1
Thank you so much <3
Welcome! Enjoy steeming! ;)
Thank you :) Will try!
Welcome to Steemit, I love your writing and I actually find this to be a very appropriate contemplation.
The more we come to terms with ourselves as multi dimensional beings, then the more absurd it becomes to take on the name of just one facet. A certain seriousness can arise around what we are going to call ourselves, especially in a professional sense. It's a funny game that I definitely haven't figured out yet :P
Hi! Thank you so much for your comment. Totally agree with you :) It is really a funny thing that we have been taught to take seriously. It's like you are incompetent if you don't know who you are and what you want etc., whereas it can mean that you are just too open-minded and multi-dimensional to be able to decide :)
Welcome to Steem, @nightcreature!
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@nightcreature ...welcome to this great community..I'm positive you'll do well , I've followed you, please do well to follow back..peace!
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STOPSome good questions, I have very little clue as to who I am, I know who I am not, but that does not mean I know myself. I found your post courtesy of @viking-ventures featuring you in their "Pay it Forward" contest post. You certainly have made me think a little bit.
It's good that you don't know :). You're not set in stone and you can keep all interpretations about yourself open :) You are just a milllion of different things, and so you can't fix it down.
The search that many undertake, to know themselves, I try also at times, but I think I am doing better at learning who I am not. I have never wanted to be that stick in the mud slowly getting covered to eventually become a fossil. I think that is the one thing I learned about myself, by learning what I am not.
Totally agree with you, and I feel the same way. Most people become fossils, but don't even know it or question it. Beautifully said, thank you for this!