Why do we become attached to identities we created ourselves?

New Delhi: Why do we become attached to identities we created ourselves? A job is given to us. A designation is given to us. A position is given to us. A reputation is built over time. Yet, after living with these things long enough, we begin to say, 'This is who I am.' And when one of these things is taken away, we do not merely feel that we have lost a job, a title or a position. We feel that we have lost ourselves. But who exactly is this self that feels so threatened? There is a quiet cruelty in this. The very success that once gave us confidence can later become the thing that controls us.