Losing yourself? : Blog#160

Losing yourself?

There comes a time in everyone’s life when you realize you are changing. It is the smallest of things that begin to change. Some food that you liked to gorge on begins to look less appealing. A television program that used to have you glued to your seats doesn’t interest you anymore. A magazine that you used to find a page turner doesn’t intrigue you anymore!

It is a bit unsettling. These are habits which used to make you happy. Now, they don’t. You are amused as to what has changed. You wonder if something else will make you as much happy. You are concerned if you will find habits which will lend you the same emotions which they did. You are left thinking if there are more changes coming your way.

The most recurring thought is whether one is losing oneself. We tend to attach our preferences to our identity. This might be the reason why we hang on to those preferences. For instance, there is a friend of mine who like tea. Whenever he gets a chance, he has a cup of tea. These days he is beginning to notice that he doesn’t like tea as much and he is trying to cut down. But his friends and those who know him have already associated this beverage to him. He finds it difficult to refuse tea because of this reason. If at all he does, people say “But you have always liked tea! What Happened?”.

May be, people who have lived their life long enough have seen many a metamorphosis of this sort. Their ability to acknowledge and accept another person’s viewpoint might have its origin in having gone through such changes in preferences and perceptions over the years. May be, this is how one finally attains maturity J.  This might exactly be the reason why youngsters hold on to their opinions so fiercely. One, they think there is never going to be a change in their attitude and approach towards a particular issue and secondly, they might not have gone through such a change in perceptions in their lives thus far.

The interesting aspect is that this happens mostly at that time when you think you have finally found yourself.  For many of us, it takes a long time to understand oneself. It takes a while to understand who we really are! And just when we think we have figured it all out, we begin to change, yet again!

Arun Babu

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