Most people have trouble answering this question.
Who are you?
The difficulty in answering this question comes from having to select a sentence or two which would attempt to describe ourselves. Pretty impossible, right? Because you know that you are a complex person with so many layers and experiences. So how do we even begin to get a sense of ourselves in order to know who we are?
This quote which sounds more like a riddle, is the basis of what’s called the “Looking Glass Self” and might help you start to know who you really are.
“I am not what I think I am. I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am”.- Charles Horton Cooley
Cooley was a sociologist and through his theories developed the notion that we come to understand our sense of who we are from our interactions with others in society.
- You imagine how you appear to the other person.
- You imagine the judgment of the other person.
- You feel some sense of pride, happiness, guilt, or shame.