How to figure out who you are: 8 comics exploring identity

This is the fourth installment of a special edition of Lily Lines featuring comics from our archive. Subscribe to get future editions here.

I grew up in a small, conservative town in the Midwest. So, for a majority of my life, I assumed my life would go like this: meet a boy, fall in love, get married, buy a house, have kids. I didn’t feel any certain way about that, I just thought that’s how it would unfold.

Once I moved away for college, lived in cities and met people with backgrounds different from my own, I started to question — quite literally — everything. Do I believe in God? Do I want to get married? Do I want to have kids? Do I like men or women or both or neither? Do I even identify as a woman? It didn’t occur to me until into my 20s that I could question and choose these things. I didn’t even start thinking about that last question until this year.

Perspective | How do you feel about your body? These comic artists got personal.

I’m still figuring out who I am, but this is who I am today: I’m a queer agnostic woman who doesn’t plan to have kids. I want an unconventional job at some point. I value friendships over relationships. All of this (and more) is something I get to decide. It’s exciting. And sometimes scary. But well worth it.

Below, you will find eight comics from artists about who they are — whether it’s examining their mixed racial identity or trying to find a new name that feels right. These comics are beautiful and honest and delve into the rawest parts of what it means to be human.

I thought I had to be skinny to explore my gender identity. Here’s how I learned to dress without fear of judgment.

8 comics on figuring out who we are

I thought I had to be skinny to explore my gender identity. Here’s how I learned to dress without fear of judgment.

I’m Chinese American and I don’t speak Chinese perfectly. That’s okay.

When I came out as trans, I knew I needed a new name. But would I ever find one that felt right?

I forgot my first language after moving to America. Here’s how I’m reconnecting with my roots.

I spent years wearing tight dresses to pass as straight. Here’s what it took for me to be okay with my identity.

I’m half-Mexican, but I pass for White. Here’s what it feels like to inhabit two racial identities.

I’m nonbinary. Here’s what that means.

As an Asian American woman, I dismissed the racism I experienced. Now I know we must confront it together.