Latest / Internal Insights / Finding Yourself: A Journey, Not a Destination
Transcript
- Ted Thao: Welcome to Internal Insights, a quick, honest conversation about mental health in about five minutes or less. I'm your host Ted Tao, a licensed professional counselor, and the owner of Internal Insights Therapy in San Antonio, Texas. Every episode, we take one idea from therapy, trauma, anxiety, relationships, identity, and talk about it plainly. No jargon, no fluff, just something real. Let's get into it. I hear this phrase a lot. I feel lost. I don't even know who I am anymore. Usually it comes after something big. A breakup, a move, a graduation, becoming a parent, losing one or something close to us. Something that's cracked opened the identity you were leaning on. Here's the thing no one tells you. Finding yourself. Isn't like finding your keys. You're not going to dig around and suddenly go, aha! There I am. Because the self isn't a fixed object hiding somewhere waiting to be discovered. It's more like a river. It's you. It's something undoubtedly you, but it's always moving. Always a little different than it was last year. So When someone says I don't know who I am, what I usually hear underneath that is something more specific grief for who they used to be, or fear about who they're becoming, or the exhaustion from performing a version of themselves that never actually fits. If that's you right now, here's a place to start. Instead of asking who am I? Try asking smaller, more honest questions. That actually like for example, what actually feels good in my body right now? What do I keep avoiding? Whose voice am I hearing when I judge myself? Who am I when no one's watching and no one needs anything from me? Those questions won't hand you a tidy answer, but they'll point you towards something real. Instead of an idea of yourself you inherited from your family, your culture, your job, or your Instagram feed. And if you're someone who grew up straddling two cultures or being told you should be before you got something to say or you even have a right to say, this process can feel even more layered. And the cool part is, it's not a flaw in you. It's just more history to untangle gently in your own time. That's it for this episode of Internal Insights. If this gave you something to sit with, or just made you feel a little less alone, that's the whole point. This isn't a replacement for therapy, but if you're looking for support, you can find me at Internal Insights Therapy in San Antonio, Texas. Thank you for spending five minutes or less with me. I'll see you next time.