The Journey to Self-Discovery
Discovering who you are and how you relate to your identities affects your relationships, especially when it comes to power dynamics.
Miriame Cherbib, the founder of Speaking Justice and a member of the Ethos team, shares how she came to terms with her identity, which ultimately helped her find her calling in life.
Miriame was raised in France to Tunisian parents. She grew up in a household that actively supported human rights, which grounded her in a sense of justice from a young age. Through their experiences and her own, she ultimately applied a human rights orientation towards caring for others in conflict and crisis.
Raised To Perform
Perfectionism can quickly become a tool for self-protection. Being raised in a society that looked down upon her Tunisian heritage meant that Miriame learned from a young age to perform perfection. She felt pressured to avoid embodying negative stereotypes about Arab immigrants in order to belong in a dominant, assimilationist culture.
Finding Your True Calling
As an economist focused on studying climate change, Miriame chanced upon an opportunity to facilitate dialogue about some of the thorniest, most emotional parts of environmentalism. Through this experience, Miriame began her path to care work, one that interestingly enough also helped investigate the future of energy in Europe. The fear of failing pushed her further to succeed as she wanted to push past the stereotypes and prove that she belonged in the field she had chosen.
Discovering Community In Change
As time went on, the pressure to perform was weighing heavily on Miriame, so she made a change. After moving to the US, she found a strong sense of belonging. Miriame moved to her husband’s small rural hometown, where she immediately developed strong ties with the local community. Part of her investment in the community was teaching at a local school, where taught social-emotional skills along with French.Fostering a local community and discovering the power of a collective support system were key to finding her sense of belonging.
The Key To Finding You
Finding yourself means taking time to explore your cultural, social, and individual identities. Understanding your identity can affect your interactions with the world in a positive way.
To learn more about navigating identity and finding your culture of belonging, listen to Miriame’s full story on the podcast.
