The Battle of Self

Last month I met a man that goes by the name of Slomo. He was made somewhat famous by a New York Times video people which talked about how he gave up his medical practice and now lives to just roll up and down the boardwalk in San Diego and rollerblade. When I stopped to chat with him, he quickly jumped into conspiracy theory about the government doing weather tests, but then the conversation moved towards how we live our lives. He made one point which resonated with me: his experiences and observations about life seem to suggest that people need to stumble and fall, deal with that, and then build themselves back up, and it's through that process that they can find themselves and their purpose.
Last night, I came upon a podcast between Joe Rogan and Guy Ritchie, where they were discussing the positive symbolism and meaning of wearing a suit, but you have to own the action and the experience. Ritchie went on to talk about life as a battle or conflict between the outer world trying to define who you are and the inner self trying to be able to be its true self. Ritchie also discussed the parable of the prodigal son, which he offered an interesting interpretation. Not that it's only about forgiveness but rather that you're the father, and the two sons are your intellectual and emotional selves. And each man must go through the process of getting lost in the world, making mistakes and then coming to terms with who they really are, what they really want, and how they really exist.
Both with Slomo and with Ritchie I heard ideas about the conflict and struggle between yourself and your environment, needing to go through this struggle, to stumble and fall, and only upon hitting a low can you then begin to rebuild yourself in a more honest and grounded version of yourself.
I feel this has a lot of relevance to my life and the process that I have been going through for the last several years.