Who are you?

Yes that’s right, “Who are you?”.

It’s NOT what you do, where you work or a list of your accomplishments. That information is useful for your resume and LinkedIn profile but useless when looking for yourself.

So who am I?

Most people would answer, “I am a butcher”, “a baker” or maybe, “a candlestick maker”, etc.

Identifying themselves with a particular profession or organisation they work for.

Nothing wrong with that except who are you when you stop working?

So since leaving my role with a large energy company early in 2014 after seven years with them, I have been challenged with the question,

“Who am I now that I do not work for <organisation>?”

Sorry, I can’t help you there because I am not sure anymore.

I confess, I am caught off-guard when confronted with this question.

After being unemployed and underemployed, both my ego and my identity has taken a severe beating.

It makes me uncomfortable…

After spending the last 20 some years working to carve out a career for myself, I unfortunately seem to have ended up letting my WORK define who I AM.

Since we spend more than a third of our adult lives at work, it naturally feels like that is who we are.

Our work not only provides us with financial security but also shapes our identity and self-worth.

This is totally underestimated by 99% of the working population.

So why would you need to think any deeper and ask, “Who am I?”.

Its easier to let what you do define who you are, your value system and how you interact with others because you unconsciously make:

Your work = Your life

But who are you “inside” once you remove the “shell”?

That’s a tough question, I admit.

One that I am still struggling with but what I know for now is that I am NOT what I do or at least what I did.

I am a human being NOT a human doing