Single Identity and Shells

I’ve seen people become shells of who they were. Sometimes I think it’s unavoidable. Sometimes tragedy strikes and leaves someone battered and barely alive, in more ways than one. And that person becomes just a shell of who they were.

Other times I’ve seen people stake their whole identity on a single thing and have that thing taken away. Then they become just a shell of who they were. This type of becoming a shell is avoidable. We shouldn’t stake our entire identity on one single thing. Often you will see someone bank their identity on a skill or possession. But when that skill is no longer needed or if they lose that possession, they lose their identity with it. But if we make our identity much deeper than a single skill or possession, we can protect against becoming irrelevant and a shell of our former self.

The extra benefit is we become a more well rounded individual, capable of much more and a deeper person than before.