Versions of the Self: How We Curate Our Lives

I remember getting a Facebook account in 2007. That’s nearly two decades ago, for those of us keeping track. What started as a way to connect with friends near and far morphed into a hyper-fixated curation of our lives.

Photo by Felicia Buitenwerf on Unsplash

These days, barring those rare unicorns who don’t use social media at all, it’s nearly impossible to not curate how we present ourselves to the world.

But I don’t think social media is totally to blame. As humans (even those rare unicorns), we’ve always censored and modified ourselves in different situations. Who we present ourselves as in the workplace, for example, is likely different than who we present ourselves as in the comfort of our own home or when we’re at a social gathering with friends.

We adapt who we are because humans are a social species, and we want to be part of the herd. Both direct and indirect cultural and social norms cue us to behave, act, speak, and dress in certain ways to be accepted.

But have you ever thought about who you really are underneath the social expectations? What if you peeled back the need to assimilate into the herd and simply allowed yourself to be?

At the Rewrite Workshops, we believe the page is the ideal place to explore who we are without judgement. Seeing our words on the page gives shape to our thoughts and ideas in a way that allows us “try on different hats” and examine aspects of our lives that we may have no other avenue to.

Writing prompt: Give yourself permission to explore who you are if you peel back the layers of social expectations and norms. The key here is permission—and I mean full permission—because the page, unlike most other things in our lives, does not judge. The page just is.

You may choose to hold on to your pages and your words, or you may choose to discard them. This is up to you, but I encourage you to write for five to ten minutes freely and see where your mind takes you. You may be surprised at what you learn about yourself!

Happy writing, everyone!