Identity over Image
Who you are when no one is watching is who you really are.
Everything else is a cosmetic.
A huge one.
But let’s say it plainly:
We now live in a world where people play a person rather than become a person.
Playing a person is called image.
Being a person is called identity.
And the tragedy of our generation—especially in the social media space—is that we’ve mastered image and neglected identity.
We’ve become expert image developers and lost the sacred art of building real people.
The Algorithm Trains Us to Perform
It rewards what looks good, not what lasts.
It trains us to polish our surface and ignore our roots.
We’re told to brand ourselves before we build ourselves.
So we do.
We gather quotes. We mimic accents. We wear borrowed confidence.
And somewhere along the way, we become performers of who we think we are—rather than builders of who God called us to be.
Image Is External. Identity Is Internal.
Image is your highlight reel.
Identity is what’s left when the reel is over.
Image can be bought, faked, or imitated.
Identity must be formed, over time, in truth, and often in obscurity.
Image is how the world sees you.
Identity is who you are when only God is looking.
The Story of Adaeze: A Tale of Image vs Identity
Adaeze was a bright, young woman in her mid-20s.
She was articulate. Brilliant. Put-together.
Her Instagram page looked like a masterclass in personal branding—clean aesthetics, wise captions, daily affirmations, and the perfect balance of vulnerability and victory.
She shared Bible verses about purpose.
She ran a mentorship group titled Becoming More.
She spoke on panels. Wrote guides. Did live sessions every Sunday on “becoming your highest self.”
People admired her. Young women quoted her.
But behind the scenes, Adaeze was quietly falling apart.
Not because she was evil or hypocritical.
But because what she had built on the outside was not anchored to anything real on the inside.
She performed identity, but she never formed it.
Her wisdom was copy-pasted. Her confidence was rehearsed. Her routines were curated.
And when life hit her hard—a broken relationship, financial failure, a health scare—everything she built began to collapse.
Why?
Because what she presented was an image.
But what sustains you in the storm is identity.
Adaeze had built an audience before building a foundation.
She had packaged a version of herself that was aspirational but not authentic.
She knew what to say, but not what to stand on.
And in the quiet of her pain, she realized a deep truth:
“I’ve spent the last 5 years building a version of myself people admire…
but I don’t even know who I am when I’m not being watched.”
That moment didn’t destroy her—it rescued her.
She took a step back. Left social media for a while. Got into therapy. Dug into her faith—not as content, but as lifeline.
She started building inwardly. Slowly. Painfully. Authentically.
And in time, the woman she was behind the scenes began to match the woman she showed to the world.
That is identity.
And it only comes when you decide to stop playing a role and start becoming a person.
Even Our Businesses Are Becoming Image-Heavy
And it’s not just people. Businesses too are becoming performances.
We’re building IG businesses. Not actual businesses.
We’re chasing visibility, not building infrastructure.
And that’s a dangerous path.
We sell things online with no supply chain, no local production, no capacity to scale.
We don’t manufacture—we import personalities and hope they sell.
The Story of Chioma: A Business Built on Image
Chioma is 24. She runs a fast-rising online fashion store.
Her most popular product is a clothing line made popular by an American celebrity. Different climate. Different culture. Different values.
But she reposts a few reels, markets it well, and it sells.
In 6 months, she clears over ₦5 million in profit.
But no local factory. No team. No supply chain. No skill transfer. No infrastructure.
It’s all drop-shipped from China, managed on WhatsApp, and glamorized on Instagram.
And here’s the problem:
In 20 years, another girl will sell different clothes, influenced by another celebrity, under the same empty shell.
And we still won’t know how to make our own clothes.
No matter how much money flows through it, a business without identity will collapse under the pressure of influence.
If We Don’t Build Infrastructure, We Lose Identity
This is not just about business. It’s a national crisis.
If we don’t start building systems and supply chains, we will always sell knockoffs of someone else’s culture.
And if we keep trading what we don’t create, we will lose who we are and become what we sell.
Because your infrastructure is your identity, materialized.
We don’t need more social media shops. We need real businesses with muscle and meaning.
We need more builders, fewer trend chasers.
We need more factories and fewer filters.
Take Time to Become, Not Just Perform
Whether it’s a person or a company, the principle is the same:
Who you are behind the scenes is who you truly are.
What you build beneath the surface is what will stand the test of time.
Take the time to develop your inside.
Before you project. Before you post. Before you pitch.
Because performance fades. But identity builds nations.
Final Word
Don’t spend your life playing a role.
Spend it becoming a person.
And if you build anything—build from the inside out.
Because the world doesn’t need more images.
It needs more identities that can carry the future.