Creative Identity Exploration: Mapping who you are after illness, injury or trauma

14 July

Written By Kyla M

Significant experiences such as illness, injury, trauma, disability, or major changes in physical functioning can affect much more than what has happened to us or what our bodies can do. They can change how we spend our time, the roles we hold, our relationships, our independence, our sense of safety, and how we see ourselves.

Sometimes these experiences become so significant or demanding that they seem to take up all the available space. Life can become organised around symptoms, treatment, recovery, limitations, survival, or simply getting through each day. When this happens, it can become difficult to remember or recognise the other parts of ourselves.

This exercise is an opportunity to explore who you are within and beyond what you have experienced. It is not about returning to the person you were before, forcing yourself to find something positive in a difficult experience, or deciding who you should become. Instead, it is an opportunity to explore the different parts of your identity: what has changed, what has been lost, what remains, and what may still be developing.

There is no right or wrong way to complete this exercise. You can draw, write, use symbols, colours, words, images, or a mixture of everything.

Step 1: Create a Map of You

Place yourself somewhere in the centre of the page. You might draw yourself, use a symbol, write your name, draw a shape, or simply write “ME.” You may want to consider representing things more abstractly as a landscape, drawing or picture. You don’t always have to represent things in words.

Around yourself, begin adding different parts of who you are.

You might include:

People and relationships that are important to you
Roles you have held or still hold
Things you care deeply about
Interests, hobbies, and things you enjoy
Qualities you recognise in yourself
Values that matter to you
Places where you feel most like yourself
Memories or experiences that have shaped you
Things you have lost or had to give up
Parts of yourself that feel harder to access now
Things you still hope to experience
New or changing parts of yourself that you are still discovering

Some parts may feel large and important. Others may feel distant, faded, hidden, disconnected, or uncertain. You can represent this however you like.

Step 2: Add What You Have Experienced to the Map

Now find a way to represent the illness, injury, trauma, disability, or other significant experience that has affected your life. You might represent it as a shape, colour, object, landscape, barrier, shadow, weather system, symbol, or anything else that feels appropriate.

Consider:

How much space does this experience currently take up in my life?
What parts of my life has it affected?
What has changed or become more difficult?
What emotions are connected with it?
What does managing or coping with it require from me?
Are there parts of myself that feel overshadowed by it?
Are there parts of me that remain separate from what has happened?
Are there qualities, values, or parts of myself that have become clearer or more important?

The aim is not to minimise what has happened. Illness, injury, trauma, and disability can have profound effects on a person's life and identity. Instead, this step invites you to explore where the experience sits within the larger picture of who you are.

Step 3: Explore What Has Been Lost or Changed

Create a space on the page for the things you miss, grieve, or experience as changed.

These might include:

Activities or abilities
Independence or freedom
A sense of safety or trust
Roles or responsibilities
Relationships
Work or study
Places you can no longer access in the same way
Plans or expectations for the future
A previous sense of yourself
The person you expected to be

You do not need to make these losses positive or find a “silver lining.” Some things are painful to lose, and acknowledging that loss can be an important part of understanding your experience.

You might ask yourself:

What do I miss most?

What did this give me or represent for me?

For example, missing a particular activity may also mean missing freedom, connection, confidence, movement, independence, belonging, adventure, or feeling alive. Understanding what something meant to us can sometimes help us better understand what we are grieving. It may also help us identify what still matters to us, even when the way we access it has changed.

Step 4: Explore What Remains

Now look for the parts of yourself that are still present. These do not need to be strengths in the traditional sense. They may simply be things that still feel like you.

Ask yourself:

What has stayed with me despite what I have experienced?
What qualities, interests, values, or relationships still feel important?
What do the people who care about me value about me?
What do I contribute to the lives of others simply by being myself?
What still brings moments of comfort, connection, enjoyment, humour, curiosity, or meaning?
When do I feel most like myself?
Are there parts of me that have been difficult to notice because so much attention has been focused on coping or surviving?

Add these to your map in whatever way feels right.

Step 5: Notice What Has Changed

Some parts of identity may not fit neatly into the categories of lost or unchanged.

You may have changed.

Your priorities may be different. Your relationships may have shifted. You may see yourself, other people, your body, or the world differently. Some changes may feel painful. Others may feel neutral, complicated, or even meaningful.

Consider:

What feels different about me now?
What matters more to me than it once did?
What matters less?
Are there parts of myself I understand differently?
Have any of my values or priorities changed?
Are there parts of my identity that I am still trying to understand?

You do not need to decide whether these changes are “good” or “bad.” Identity can contain contradiction, uncertainty, grief, growth, anger, acceptance, and resistance at the same time.

Step 6: Make Space for the Person You Are Becoming

Identity does not have to mean returning to exactly who you were before. Create an open space somewhere on the page for what is still developing.

You might add:

Something you would like more of in your life
Something you are curious about
A part of yourself you would like to reconnect with
A new interest or experience you might explore
A quality you would like to nurture
A relationship or role you would like to strengthen
Something meaningful that remains possible, even if it looks different from what you once imagined

This space can remain unfinished.

You do not need to know who you are becoming. You do not need to have a clear plan for the future. Sometimes identity develops gradually through small experiences, relationships, choices, and moments of reconnection.

Reflection

When you have finished, spend some time looking at the whole page.

You might reflect on the following questions:

Which parts of the map feel most important to me?
Which parts of myself have been pushed into the background?
What am I grieving?
What has changed?
What parts of myself are still here?
What parts of myself would I like to reconnect with?
Where does what happened to me sit within my identity?
Does it take up more space than I would like, or does its place feel appropriate given its impact on my life?
What is one part of myself I would like to give a little more space to?

You do not need to complete this exercise all at once. You can stop, return to it, change it, or add to it over time. The aim is not to create a perfect or complete picture of who you are. Identity is not fixed, and significant experiences can change us in ways that take time to understand.

This exercise is simply an opportunity to begin exploring the many parts of you: what has been affected, what has been lost, what has changed, what remains, and what may still be unfolding.

Kyla M