When Your Old Identity Fights Back: What I’m Personally Experiencing Right Now (and What You Might Feel Too)

Identity Shift Symptoms: What This Process Really Feels Like Inside

If you’ve started shifting your identity recently, especially if you’re using my Identity Shift Journal, I want to share something deeply personal with you.

Because right now, as I’m writing this, I’m in the middle of the exact same experience you may be facing – or soon will be.

For the last two days, I’ve felt like I’ve been having a fist fight inside my own chest – old me versus new me.

One moment I’m ready to step fully into my next-level identity… and the next moment I freeze, procrastinate, or suddenly find myself scrubbing the house just so I don’t have to face what’s really going on.

And nothing is “wrong” with me.
And nothing is wrong with you either.

These are identity shift symptoms, and they’re incredibly common for women in midlife who are reinventing themselves after years (or decades) of living as a previous version of themselves.

Let me tell you what’s been happening inside me, because it’s EXACTLY what you may experience too.

My Subconscious Has Been in Full Panic Mode (And Yours Might Too)

I’m manifesting big things right now, one of them being 100K monthly readers for my blog – this one you’re reading now.

And that’s exactly when everything inside me suddenly flipped.

Yesterday, I froze completely.

I sat on the sofa, unable to move, unable to think, unable to start.

It felt like something inside me was grabbing onto my ankles and pulling me backwards.

Today has been a little better; I’ve worked on the blog, and I’ve done some housework, but it’s felt like wading through emotional mud.

A tug-of-war between:

It has been uncomfortable.
Emotional.
Even physically draining.

And after years of doing manifestation and identity work, this was all totally new and surprising to me; no book I’ve read or manifestation coach I’ve listened to ever explained this.

So, I had to do some quick research there and then, with my laptop sitting on my couch, frozen.

And this is what I found…

And this – the freezing, the resistance, the heavy days – is one of the clearest identity shift symptoms there is.

Why This Happens (The Part No One Talks About)

Your subconscious has one job:

To keep you alive by keeping you the same.

It doesn’t care if the “same” made you unhappy.
It doesn’t care if the “same” kept you stuck or invisible.
It cares only that “same = familiar.”

And familiar = safe.

So when you start changing – really changing – your subconscious reacts like:

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
STOP!
NEW FEELS SCARY!”

That’s why, as soon as I started stepping into my new identity as a successful blogger… my subconscious went into full protection mode.

It’s not sabotaging.
It’s safeguarding.

This is why identity shifting often begins with a sense of discomfort.

Not because you’re doing something wrong… but because you’re doing something different.

The Internal “Fight” Means Something Huge Is Happening

Here’s the part I want you to really take in:

And that internal resistance?

It doesn’t mean you’re failing.
It means the change is REAL.

It’s your old self throwing a tantrum:

• “Don’t Leave Me Behind.”
• “Don’t Grow.”
• “Don’t Become Her.”
• “Don’t Make Me Obsolete.”

It’s awkward.
It’s uncomfortable.
It’s confusing.

But it’s also one of the clearest and most powerful identity shift symptoms showing you that you’re on the brink of becoming someone new.

Why It Feels “Painful” – And Why It Won’t Last

Identity shifting isn’t just about thinking differently.

It’s about changing your:

• Nervous System
• Emotional Patterns
• Subconscious Beliefs
• Long-Held Survival Strategies
• Old Behavioural Loops
• Internal Story About Who You Are

No wonder I felt severe intense.

I learned that this discomfort is not a sign to stop – it’s a sign that your old identity is dissolving.

Your subconscious simply needs time to reclassify your new identity as “safe.”

And once it does?

The resistance stops almost overnight.

It relaxes.
It softens.
It lets go.

And suddenly everything feels easier.

You’re just in the emotional “identity shedding” stage – just like I am now as I write this.

A Gentle Reminder From Me to You

I’m walking this exact same path right now: feeling the discomfort, the fear, and the pull backwards…

and still choosing to move forward!

If your subconscious is reacting as mine has been, it’s only because:

• Your dream is close.
• Your new identity is forming.
• Your old self is losing its grip.

Identity shifting is messy. It’s emotional. It’s confusing.

But it’s also miraculous.

And it means you are becoming the woman you were always meant to be.

So keep going, lovely.

The discomfort means you’re so very close.

Claire x