From within

I think that one of the ways we can tell we have arrived at core identity is that categorizing and comparing ourselves to others drops off drastically. We don't care what people do or what they think and we stop looking for validation outside of ourselves. Opinion becomes entirely irrelevant and we are not easily triggered.

"I am me" is more than good enough a statement for us because a core cannot and should not be so readily perturbed by outside influences. Self-assurance installs itself.

We look for and find ourselves from within and if we are waiting for a textbook definition it's because we're not there yet.