It’s clear that American capitalism shapes our sense of self, leading us to define ourselves by how we make our money every day – but I’m taking a big step away from that system and daring to define myself by things other than my work, simply because I’m not really succeeding at it right now.
I’ve been running an Etsy shop where I sell my own pottery for about four years now, and for the majority of that time I identified as a potter, a small business owner, and an artist. But recently as I’ve gotten less inspired and my sales have gone way down, I’ve realized that I’m actually so much more than that; I’m a human being with feelings and needs! And currently I’m feeling sad that I’m not succeeding in my business.
One of the most common things we ask when we meet someone is, “What do you do?”, which is so disheartening, and it’s even moreso when you don’t really want to tell them because you don’t really have anything to show for it and they kind of lose interest and talk to someone else at the party. That’s why when anyone asks me that question, I tell them that I’m a dreamer, or a lover, or a “social smoker” instead.
You simply cannot define me by what I do! At least not until I figure out how to succeed at it.
I decided to stop defining myself by my job and instead look deeper into what makes me unique, and also to try to find any other skill that I could possibly use to make money off of. Maybe if I got rich and famous from my art, or had any job that made a lot of money, I would define myself by that, but until then, I’ll keep identifying myself with my passion for early 2000s music and loving The Great British Bake Off.
For anyone who’s sick of how our society prioritizes our career over anything else about us, or you’re just kind of embarrassed about what you do at the moment because you’re not doing well at it, I would highly suggest defining yourself by literally any other means. Fuck capitalism!
