# Identity Collapse Anxiety

By [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2) · 2025-07-28

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Over the years, we add on aspects of our identity, like layers of a cake.

But, with time, we are forced to let go of some of those layers.

A career change.

A marriage. A divorce.

A child.

A student.

A member.

Sometimes we bring the changes upon ourselves.

Sometimes, they are forced upon us.

Either way, the change of state from one to the other can be jarring. It can (and often does) induce anxiety.

After all, if I’m not \[whatever\], then what am I?

The tension arises in the shoulders, the heads, the chest.

What’s the purpose? What’s the point?

I’ve found that breathing through these moments are helpful.

Then, when I regain composure and tranquility, I find that the letting go of that layer of a cake is liberating.

And, I can sense that, underneath it all, is the source.

Eternity.

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*Originally published on [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2/identity-collapse-anxiety)*