Islands of Persona

Many a times I have been in a situation where it was really hard to be myself or express myself for a sustained period of time in an environment - office, school or home. I find it’s really hard to change the environment whether I had the authority or not.

Especially in situations where I didn’t have any authority, I found a way through was building a metaphorical island around me where I could be and operate in a way that was closer to my values, connecting with other people who wanted to join hands because they liked my island or I liked theirs.

I am broadly an introvert person, so I still debate whether this was a way to remain in my shell in public as well. But, I think an island is open and visible to others. So, it allows me to be myself in a sea of myriad personas.

In some situations this has allowed me to act as an agent of change in an organisation as well. When the system around me was regressive, creating this zone of excellence attracted others who wanted to push the bar high and thus creating an inside-out slow but persistent transformation. This worked well even when I had some authority.

I suspect this allows for preservation of diverse personas and thoughts to mature and basically building an opt-in collaboration environment. I remember a metaphor used by a Hindi poet that I always related to while talking about preserving one’s self in a tough environment - live like the soft tongue lives among 32 hard teeth.