You and I try to figure out who we are. You and I make a decision, like a hypothesis, about who we are and act accordingly. We look at how people respond to our actions. We reflect on how our work is received and valued. We then make an update given feedback received.
When it comes to hypothesis testing, when your data shows your hypothesis to be true or false, you must make updates. You don’t continue testing and testing until your data shows you want you want to see. That’s bad exploration.
Given the hypothesis model of personal identity (I’m sure it’s not a novel concept), what’s your hypothesis about yourself now? What updates have you made about yourself? Where is your data leading you?
Thinking about this model for myself — I believe it reduces the stress of trying to be something that I am not. Instead, I make a hypothesis and test and, hopefully if I disprove my hypothesis, I learn something about myself.
A caveat… I also recognize that people do not define me. I am using people’s reactions to how I believe I am to help me learn more about myself.
I don’t believe we’ll ever achieve 100% certainty. It will only be after we’re gone, when those we knew account for who we were, will we know what we became. That’s what I think… for now.
