6 versions of a person all pointing to the same individual.
Identity formation happens in different stages, which can change your self-perspective as you grow. Illustrated by Jamey Lyon.

Let’s learn a bit about how people form an identity.

Forming a (creative) identity happens through a number of processes that happen at different times and — based on where you’re at in your life — some are more important than others.

de Valverde, Sovet, and Lubart outline these processes really well here. I’ve just paraphrased them below:

  • You’ve got the adolescent process where you realize that you’re an individual being
  • There’s the identification process where you appropriate traits of others and find patterns and belonging in your community(s)
  • The attribution process, where you take in others’ responses to you
  • The narcissistic valuation process where you become emotionally invested in yourself
  • The conservation process where you try to cultivate a stable self over time
  • The realization process where you switch from identifying with your past self to identifying with the possibilities in your future self

There’s a ton to unpack from all of these processes, but that’s for another time. For now, remember that these processes don’t always happen one after the other. They’re non-linear.

And that’s pretty cool because it really reinforces the idea that finding yourself is like a journey or adventure.

What about you?

Which of these processes do you think your creative self is going through the most right now?

Reference

de Valverde, J., Sovet, L., & Lubart, T. (2017). Self-construction and creative “life design”. In M. Karwowski & J. C. Kaufman (Eds.), The creative self: Effect of beliefs, self-efficacy, mindset, and identity (pp. 99–115). Elsevier Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809790-8.00006-6