Self identity and integrity

It's commonly accepted now that 'being ourselves' is essential to personal happiness. It is also essential to success both in and outside work.

In this article, I outline five reasons why I believe it's more difficult to 'be yourself' than ever before. In a subsequent article, I will explain how we might increase our self identity and develop our own unique authenticity. Understanding the five factors will help us tackle the dilemma of 'why am I so miserable when I'm so economically comfortable'.

The reasons come down to a combination of the pressures of work, and the pressures in society, which undermine our own self identity. If we're not clear about our own identity, we lose the foundation for being truly authentic. Let's go then...

Reason 1: The Breakdown of work-life balance


Put simply, it is no longer clear for most working people where work stops and outside life begins. More than that, work is increasingly dominating the waking lives of most people, and even part time jobs look pretty full time. There are many reasons for this. Just some of them include the following.

Firstly, the globalisation of work, which necessitates having to talk out of office times with people who work in other countries in different time zones. Secondly, the increasing imperative under our economic system to cut costs, which often entails working increased hours – and for other people the opposite work-life issue of being laid off. Thirdly the development of technology, which means that you don't leave your job when you leave the office.

In addition to piling huge pressure on our personal lives, this means more of our own identity is connected with our work – after all, it's where we concentrate most of our time and efforts.

Reason 2: Loss of personal identity at work

In two crucial respects, our personal identities have been compromised by work developments in the past fifty years. First, we have witnessed the death of the job for life, or career for life. Given that much of our own identity has historically come from our job, this is not good news. You may remember your parents or grandparents describing themselves as 'I'm a plumber', 'I work for Ford', 'I'm a teacher in this or that school', or 'I'm a accountant'. Whatever it was, it was a key part of their personal identity, and we can't rely on this anymore. With the current recession, millions of financial service and public sector workers are discovering this truth.

The second way that our identities have been undermined is less obvious, and perhaps unintentional. Fifty years ago, you were paid to turn up to work, and do a day's effort. That was it. It didn't matter how you thought, or what you might say, unless you went totally over board! However, this has changed – people are now paid to think, and employers increasingly expect people to think in particular ways. Not only that, but moves by employers to adopt corporate values that all employees are expected to stick toraises the pressure on our personal identity. After all, if we put all our focus on corporate values, then we might lose sight of our own ones.

Reason 3: Fragmentation of family & community

In 1960, the family structure was clear. You were born into a family, and family units stuck together, usually within neighbourhoods that also stuck together. Your child friends became your friends for life, and you'd often end up working next to them. Not so nowadays. Families are split, parents often separated before youngsters grow up, family members move greater distances from each other, with fewer connections. Friends lose touch, often as people change employers.

These trends mean that, for many folks, identity can no longer arise from family or community the way it once did. No wonder there is an epidemic of people attempting to discover their family history – not to mention websites linking old friends together. These are reactions to loss of personal identity, at least partially.

Reason 4: The pressure to conform

The pressure to conform is clear in the workplace, as we've just seen. In addition, there are also increasing pressures in society to conform, starting with our teens. Fads and fashions plays to a natural need most of us have to 'fit in' with others. So we wear similar clothes, buy the same music, wear the same jewellery, as those with whom we want to fit. In addition, as the effect of advertising has become more nuanced, we fail to notice how it undermines our personal identity. Everything from our phone to our car, and even our friends, are all influenced by advertising.

As well as compromising our identity, advertising contributes to one more risk to retaining our own identity and authenticity.

Reason 5: The propaganda of instant happiness

Go on, show me an advert where it doesn't claim in some way that, if you buy the product, you'll be more contented (or less unhappy). We live in a society dominated by instant gratification, where getting it now is a prerequisite of happiness. Western capitalism has largely been constructed on the promise of more prosperity, wage rises, promotions, longer holidays, and the like. Our society is built on the assumption of 'when I get that, I'll be contented'. Whatever 'that' is. Then wepuzzle on why we aren't happy when we do get what we wanted.

Of course, it is clear that happiness does come from within. But no one made a fortune by accepting this truth, so our happiness is made conditional on achieving more things.

So there you are. Five reasons why we are increasingly losing touch with our own identity. Without a clear identity, we feel increasingly discontented. It should not be surprising to find that there are now more healers in the UK than there are medical practitioners. After all, why should we expect our bodies to be healthy when our spirits are so patently not?

The first step to health is to admit the problem, kinda like admitting 'I'm an alcoholic'. The second step is to understand some of the reasons why it happened, and I hope this article throws some light on this.



Author: Mark Eyre