Who I am, really

Shalom, thank you for your feedback and question. To define who a person really is, let’s first define what he/she isn’t. We are generally NOT what we’ve been told we are by our environment, at least, our environment doesn’t usually give a well rounded, objective assessment. We may be told we are lazy, when really we have some physical limitation or learning difficulty which makes progress difficult in certain areas. We may be given so much well meaning advice that we begin to feel that we cannot proceed without leaning on the advice givers… There are many possibilities.
So who ARE we? We are the efforts we make to come close to G-d, to utilize our free choice wisely. When we make sincere efforts to fulfill G-d’s will, to perform Torah and Mitzvot, to utilize our talents for the good,we are forging our identity. When we make a mistake, we can celebrate… It’s not ‘I’m a failure’, which is very often how we FEEL, but ‘how do I learn from this, and make it a springboard,’ or simply we can accept the fact that we are fallible human beings in G-d’s hands, and He is running the world.
When we accept that our value is not dependent on anyone else, but rather we are precious in G-d’s eyes, and He really appreciates our efforts, we can validate ourselves and others. We are our eternal soul, which is truly a part of G-d above.
We are a work in progress.