Do We Really Know Ourselves?

One of the most haunting realisations I’ve had about myself recently is that I’ve let my work define me too much all my life. Like, barring some very close friends, none could pinpoint anything about my personality.

If you’d asked anyone from my class about me, the most they could tell about me was that “Jitesh likes reading a lot”. That’s it. Although it’s not the people’s perception about me what’s bothering me, but the fact that I don’t do much apart from my work is troubling me a lot now.

I mean sure I like reading, playing chess or some video games sometimes, but who doesn’t. What am I doing which makes me different than others? I’m unable to answer that.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t know. What I do know is that I don’t want this to continue anymore.

Now that I think of it, I too, when thinking of a person, first think about what they do. The personality comes second. Is this a me problem, or does everyone think like this?

Perhaps this habit of letting their work define people is ingrained in Humans. It’s often one of the first things we ask when we meet someone new, “What do you do?”.

What I’ve noticed though, is that the most genuine connections I made were not because of their work but how they carried themselves, their nature, personality and such.

As I think more about this, it makes me feel a bit unsettled that I have been consumed by my professional life too much that I’ve neglected my own self altogether.

Yet this discomfort feels like a new beginning for me. There are so many facets in me just waiting to get discovered.

Starting now, I’m on a journey to explore myself. I’m open to whatever comes my way. I don’t know where I’ll end up, but wherever it is, it’ll be more true to who I really am than where I’ve been.