"The whole idea of ‘finding yourself’ is bullshit. People are messy grab-bags of needs and impulses, and the notion that everyone has a ‘core self’ (who they Really Are, discoverable on acid or a trip to Israel) is unhelpful. It makes people feel bad for being confused about what they want, when in reality that confusion is good: it demonstrates self-awareness, honesty, and the unwillingness to wallpaper over your internal chaos. The myth of the ‘core self’ makes people think that before they can make or do anything worthwhile, they need to Find Out Who They Are — which is backwards. Nobody figures out who they are by fretting about it; some people just put aside the whole dumb quest long enough to make and do tons of cool shit. It’s that simple. The mystical ‘self’ is a straightforward algorithm — the people you’ve met + the experiences you’ve had — and if you make sure your life is filled with good ones, it pretty much takes care of itself."