I'm having an identity crisis.

Who am I, now that I live somewhere new. Who am I, now that I'm not mother to a baby. Who am I, now that I do so many types of work. Here's how I'm working it out...

I was talking with a friend recently about identity. Specifically, about the fact that raising my children in Somerset means that they won’t be ‘Londoners’.

Something that intellectually, I know shouldn’t matter. But emotionally, feels like it does.

London is where I was born and raised and spent most of my 38 years. It’s where my parents and siblings still live. It’s where my mum was born and raised.

When I lived there, I didn’t think about it much but now that I’ve left, I feel homesick at times - and like I don’t belong in this new place but also don’t belong back there.

It’s this question around ‘place’, ‘roots’ and ‘belonging’ that has spurred me to launch a podcast series of interviews with others who are creating ‘home’ elsewhere.

(Coming soon.)

So I was lamenting my children’s shift in identity, now that - assuming we stay living in Somerset - they will be growing up believing they are ‘from’ the West Country.

My friend said that she struggles with this too, having also moved here from London with her children. She’s not from London but lived there a long time.

And here’s where it got awkward.