Identity Cognitive Dissonance
I am a fan of inventing new phrases to describe common phenomenons that we all go through. Human brains look to patterns to understand the world, to understand human behavior, and to also understand themselves. The reality of the situation though is that patterns are a general rule, but it takes awhile for people to register that the pattern has shifted. Sometimes we never deal with the new shift and we constantly bring old patterns to justify our current beliefs even if we know circumstances have changed.
So why in the world am I talking about this?
Good question. Glad you asked. I have had major transformations in my life, yet I still judge myself through the identity patterns of my older self.
Example A: School was always hard and in High School I started to really apply myself and did really well. I did not trust that to be the truth moving into college, figuring that people would find out I am an imposter resource kid in the world of academia. Truth was my pattern shifted, but my self-concept remained the same which gave me anxiety about leveling up and might have even limited myself in the name of being afraid of being found out.
Example B: Lost weight and became fit. I have all sorts of fitness apps especially Adaptiv when it comes to runs. I have been married to the intermediate level for interval workouts. Every week I debate should I go to advanced then I tell myself I am still developing. Because I still see myself as unfit/out of shape and my mind has not adjusted to the idea that I can do something hard or that I should adjust my level. Same thing happened when I ran my first 5k I thought I would be embarassed, which is stupid in general since it's an individual progress situation, but I ended up running quite well despite my massive amount of anxiety.
Suppose what I am telling myself and what I am putting out there for those who understand what I am talking about is that we need to recognize our own growth. Take risks. Recognize that you can never level up convincing yourself that the elevator is broken, but never realizing that you can take the stairs. The transition between where we want to be and where we are is not transparent. We might have to struggle up or realize we were on an escalator the entire time, but had no idea because we were not seeing the true reality, we were seeing ourselves from a context that doesn't exist anymore. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you took the stairs, took an escalator, or were granted access onto that elevator The whole point is that you attempt the journey up.
We put off what we are afraid of, but really we need to realize our abilities are far more than our mind can compute.
Trust yourself. You are limitless.
So why in the world am I talking about this?
Good question. Glad you asked. I have had major transformations in my life, yet I still judge myself through the identity patterns of my older self.
Example A: School was always hard and in High School I started to really apply myself and did really well. I did not trust that to be the truth moving into college, figuring that people would find out I am an imposter resource kid in the world of academia. Truth was my pattern shifted, but my self-concept remained the same which gave me anxiety about leveling up and might have even limited myself in the name of being afraid of being found out.
Example B: Lost weight and became fit. I have all sorts of fitness apps especially Adaptiv when it comes to runs. I have been married to the intermediate level for interval workouts. Every week I debate should I go to advanced then I tell myself I am still developing. Because I still see myself as unfit/out of shape and my mind has not adjusted to the idea that I can do something hard or that I should adjust my level. Same thing happened when I ran my first 5k I thought I would be embarassed, which is stupid in general since it's an individual progress situation, but I ended up running quite well despite my massive amount of anxiety.
Suppose what I am telling myself and what I am putting out there for those who understand what I am talking about is that we need to recognize our own growth. Take risks. Recognize that you can never level up convincing yourself that the elevator is broken, but never realizing that you can take the stairs. The transition between where we want to be and where we are is not transparent. We might have to struggle up or realize we were on an escalator the entire time, but had no idea because we were not seeing the true reality, we were seeing ourselves from a context that doesn't exist anymore. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you took the stairs, took an escalator, or were granted access onto that elevator The whole point is that you attempt the journey up.
We put off what we are afraid of, but really we need to realize our abilities are far more than our mind can compute.
Trust yourself. You are limitless.
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