Who am I?

 Who am I?


That really is the question. This is one of the things I want to try and discover over the course of this year. Who am I? I mean, who am I really, at the core, outside of all the labels that I have acquired since birth. 


Human being, person, son, boy, man, husband, father, white, heterosexual male, married, high school graduate, university graduate, paramedic, outpost nurse, emergency nurse, emergency nurse practitioner, mainline Protestant, Buddhist, Anglican, Charismatic Episcopalian, Eastern Orthodox Christian, crazy (I prefer “eccentric”), grief stricken, depressed, compassionate, caring, shy, introverted. I have had so many labels and roles that have formed my identity over the years, some constant, some changing.


All of these labels (and many more) have defined me and added layers to my identity, but “Ogres are like onions” (Shrek, 2001, Andrew Adamson/Vicky Jenson). I want to peel away these layers, until all the labels that I have accumulated are gone, and see what is underneath that all - what is my primal, my primordial, my core “self”? Who am I, naked, under all of the blankets? Who am I?

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