Article December 5, 2005 Issue

a fresh start

My identity was restored.

BY STARR URBATSCH

I read somewhere recently that the area where I live in Arizona has rapidly become one of the fastest-growing targets for identity theft. Thankfully, there are agencies ready to help the public by supplying information that people can use to protect their personal and financial information from being stolen.

It's important to use common sense and follow the helpful advice these agencies offer when it comes to safeguarding personal information. But I've seen that I need to go further—to have a more expansive, deeper, spiritual view of just what makes up our real identity. This is a view that moves everyone beyond seeing themselves or others as either victim or victimizer.

Starting in childhood, I struggled with a growing feeling that my identity was being taken away from me. During this time, my father's alcoholism was having a devastating effect on our family, and finally resulted in my parents' divorce and a cross-country move for me. These years left me with a faltering sense of who I was, often heading me down the wrong path as I searched to find where I belonged in the world. The struggle to find myself lasted many years, spiraling into depression, unhealthy relationships, smoking, alcohol and drug addiction. But a major turning point came when I was literally thrown out of the place where I was living and found myself with nowhere to go.