Defining traits
How would you describe your best friend to a new member of your social circle? Would you wax lyrical about her academic accomplishments, her high powered job, and her enviable salary? Or would you giggle as you described the time she made you laugh so much at her that your drink came out of your nose?
For me, the second option is a far better indication of what makes a person special. Their idiosynchracies, their unique sense of humour, the way they always know how to make you smile. While there is no doubt that the career path you choose usually reflects something about your personality, it does not define who you are.
Which is why I am becoming increasingly irritated by society’s annoying tendency to label you according to the work you do. What about those people who are (GASP) unemployed? Are they no longer worth talking to once they have revealed the ugly truth?
The moment your job truly defines you, is the moment you should reassess your priorities. A career is part of life, no doubt, but complete fulfillment does not come from the confines of a desk. There are far truer reflections of a person’s character than the work they may or may not do.
On the other hand, there are even worse ways to label somebody. The other day I went to the library for the first time in ages (I know, the library is not quite on the cutting edge, but I am a reader and writer and 10 million other things and I am loud and proud). The librarian who served me had not seen me in a while and thought she’d ask some questions to gauge the state of my life. And her pivotal question after establishing I’d reached the ripe old age of 24, the defining enquiry was … wait for it … “Are you married yet?” I kid you not! A studious librarian. I mean one would think she’d ask me what career path I’d followed. Honestly!
