The Transient Nature of Identity

I am on vacation and writing this on my iPod, so let’s hope it goes well. I have been thinking about this post for a couple of days now. Lots of time to reflect while I am staring at the ocean.

If you have read some of my posts over the past year, you know that I have struggled with a couple of job changes that really brought me back down to earth. Slowly but surely, I have been running into people at work who knew me in my other life, and I always feel the need to explain my backtracking career.

The simple truth is that my career is not who I am. I am a dreamer, a mom, a wife, and a pet owner. I am not a worker, although that is what I do to make ends meet.

I have heard comments from many friends and acquaintances that in other countries, people do not ask where you work or what is your profession. They just ask about you.

It is not our work that defines us, but who we are when we are not at work. An important job is impressive, and it can become your whole life if you let it, but it is all the other stuff that should define you and me. My hobbies, side roads and adventures are the things that I love to discuss. Although I might get on a rant about work occasionally, the great things that happen should occupy my mind in my free time.

In closing, friends, try to remember that jobs, houses, and material things do not define you. No matter how secure any of those things feel, they can all be gone in a blink. Even if you do define yourself by these things, if they are taken from you, then you can change what is important to you. Rearrange your priorities rather than lose hope. Perhaps a lesser role at work is okay too. This is the transient nature of our identities. We can roll with the punches and redefine ourselves. Isn’t life wonderful that way?

Category : Non-Fiction, self-help