Who Am I?

I asked my eight-year-old son the other day, “Do you know who you are?”

Without hesitation, he goes: “Of course. I’m kind, loving, and I’m a good person.”

That’s it. No overthinking. No soul-searching retreat in the mountains. Just pure, immediate clarity.

Meanwhile, most adults I know (myself included) spend years wrestling with that same question. We read the books. We chase success. We tear ourselves apart trying to define our purpose. And yet a kid can sum it up in three seconds flat.

It made me stop. Because maybe the point isn’t to find who we are. Maybe it’s to remember what we already knew before the noise of life got in the way.

When you’re a kid, your world is simple. You haven’t been told to measure your worth in paychecks, promotions, or likes on a screen. You don’t compare yourself to the neighbor with the bigger house or the friend with the shinier job title. Kids know who they are because no one has convinced them to be anything else yet.

Kids don’t complicate it. They don’t pile on expectations or attach worth to superficial markers of success. They lead with kindness, love, and a basic sense of good. The stuff we’re all still fighting for as adults.

Somewhere along the way, we start layering on labels. Student. Employee. Parent. Boss. Success. Failure. Each one piles higher until the real answer gets buried. And then we wonder why we feel disconnected, like something is missing.

The truth is, kids aren’t teaching us how to become something new, they’re reminding us of who we already are. Underneath all the noise, the ambition, and the self-doubt, there’s still a version of you that’s kind, loving, and good.

And honestly? That’s the punch in the face I needed. While I’m busy teaching my kids how to live, they’re out here reminding me of the things I should’ve never forgotten.

So maybe the real work isn’t in reinventing yourself. Maybe it’s in stripping away the extras until you get back to that eight-year-old answer.

- G aka the Student of Small Truths

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