Over the past 6 months I’ve simultaneously been managing two blogs – a personal one, amyallcock.com and a work one Amy@MEdTech. At first it seemed like a good idea to separate the work stuff from the personal stuff, but I soon began to realize that the distinction wasn’t as clear as I had anticipated. Often times I would write a post that was relevant to both sites and be very conflicted over where to post it. It became clear that I could not easily separate who I am and what I do, and I began to wonder why I should enforce this distinction in the first place.
So, in order to resolve my identity crisis I have accepted that who I am and what I do can co-exist in peaceful blog harmony and merged the two blogs on amyallcock.com. Not only will this help to provide a more unified sense of self, but managing one blog is much easier than managing two. All previous Amy@MEdTech posts and future work-related posts can be found under both the MEdTech or the Work categories.
Kudos to you and the power of computers to bring your two disparate selves together. Who’d have thought?
This all leads me to wonder though, are you Amy Allcock or are you a web developer? While I hear what you’re saying that it is hard to separate the two, I have bristled at framing myself (or others) by what we “do”. Hmmm.
Hmmm…very interesting question. I would say that I am both, in that being a web developer is one of my defining characteristics. Although I don’t like to define people by what they do, there are certain cases where what a person does is closely tied to who they are and it becomes difficult to separate the two. In my case, I think that being a web developer is intimately tied up in who I am as it is something which I’m always doing, even outside the 9-5. It is also something I love doing, so I feel fortunate to have a job that allows be to do so. I am more than just a web developer, but being a web developer is a big part of who I am.
I am reminded of a quote from Batman Begins, which reminds me of another quote from a far more reputable source that I can’t seem to recall, and the quote is “It√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s what you do that defines you”. Do you think that we are defined by what we do? Is there more to it than just what we do? What exactly does doing entail?
Are you saying there is a more reputable source than Batman Begins? ;)
I don’t disagree with your reasoning for that. I too feel in many ways lucky to be doing what I am doing and defined by it. I think my question comes more out of a personal stance to avoid being defined by what I “do”. Of course we’re both happy with what we’re doing and so it’s fine. But what about the innumerable masses who are just doing what they have to do and don’t really enjoy it. Case in point, the guy I saw cleaning the floors in Staples last night probably doesn’t really identify with his work. But that’s not to say that those of us who enjoy and identify with our work can’t be defined by it in some way.
That all comes out of the narrow definition of our jobs being what we “do”. Realistically, I think we are what we do. Everything in our lives makes up what we do, and therefore, are.
I think that we are both fortunate to enjoy what we do and to have our day jobs in line with our interests and abilities. I agree with you that there are many people who don’t enjoy their jobs and as a result they may not want to be identified by their work. However, it might be because of their day job that they are able to engage in activities outside of work – such as being a parent, hockey coach, or a good neighbor . Although our job is something that we do, I like to take the definition of being defined by what we do beyond our day jobs to how we act in all aspects of our life.
I just came across this quote which adds to the above discussion, in that it is not so much what you do but how you do it:
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so welll that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
So long as we enjoy what we do, and do it with care and passion, then I think that we are on the right track.
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