You can discover your own identity and others may be able to help you with that. But other people cannot give it to you completely unless you give them permission to do so. However, even then are not really “you”, but just the idea these others have made of you, so I think that truly only you can choose the identity, because other people cannot know you better then you can. Also, this question is complex because I believe that it all depends on the culture, environment, era, and your parents, of course.
Also, I believe that identity is both given and created, because your given identity pre-exists and any identity you create for yourself is structured upon those that were given. You can create your identity with the actions you make. There are so many factors that also create your identity which I mentioned above – you family, the community you grew in, environment, your friends, social media influence, what you like and what you don’t like etc.
Hi, Khrystyna ! I completely agree with your statement that only you can choose your identity, however, we tend to try to “fit in” sometimes which leads us to falsely identify ourselves for social acceptance. It takes courage to fully express your true identity to the world.
Hey, Khrystyna
I agree with you that identity is both given and created, it is only us to determine what to that is us. And when people are putting tags on you, I believe this is what they saw on you, and this is exactly what we want them to know about us.
Hi Khrystyna, I totally agree with your post. I took a communication theory class and we went over the communication theory of identity. Essentially, it suggests that there are different layers of identity and not everyone is granted the same information. There are different frames so obviously a person you do not know well may identify you in certain categories that may not be true to you. and Strangers fall into the category where they make assumptions about you based on what they see on the outside.