The 5 Levels of Personal Definition

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There is a lot of identity crisis and confusion going on around these days, especially with the pervasiveness of social media and online interactions, and it’s so easy to get confused or carried away.

Many of us have lost the sense of who we are, what we’re about, what we bring to the world. We seek acceptance on so many levels and that’s normal. It’s just that when we get things mixed up, confusing our core identity with other things, it can lead to major mental, emotional, social issues. We can find ourselves seeking acceptance, validation and meaning from the wrong things or the wrong people. There’s depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, purposelessness and all of that going on. That’s why I wanted to share these 5 levels of personal definition with you. So that we can understand what is important and put everything in their rightful place.

A personal definition is our personal idea of who we are, which forms our self-image and how we react to things and people in our lives and even how we contribute to the world. Your personal definition of who you are affects how you see yourself, project yourself and it trickles down to the big or small decisions you make on a daily basis.

There are different levels of personal definition, and to deny that would be counterproductive. We are spirit beings, we have a soul and we live in a body. Our identity would typically reflect these three domains of our existence. It is when we misplace the different levels of our personal definition in the wrong order and of the wrong importance that we have problems.

Here are the five levels of personal definition and their order of importance:

1. Your spiritual nature. This is how God sees you and it is the deepest and truest level of personal definition. But unfortunately, it is the most ignored and the most forgotten.
2. Your personality. This is helps us to understand and celebrate how we are at our essence and how we can give the best of ourselves to God and the world.
3. Your natural roles. This especially describes your roles in relationship with other people.
4. The work you do. This is possibly the most common. Our business and career roles just answers the question of what we do, they’re not really who we are.
5. The things we have. This is the weakest and most dangerous level. Unfortunately, too many of us base our self-image on what we have or don’t have.

To get a little more depth about this topic and other ones that will help you be your best self and live your best life, please, join me on The Lifeaholic Podcast. Can’t wait to catch up with you there!