My husband is going to make fun of me for this post.
He had been trying to get me to watch BoJack Horseman since it came out. I resisted…until last week. And then I watched the entire first season.
In one of the last episodes, BoJack asks the ghostwriter of his memoir, Diane, if she thinks he’s a good person, deep down. She doesn’t answer. In the season finale, she revisits the question and says, “I don’t think I believe in deep down. I kinda think that all you are is just the things that you do.”
I took a second to let it sink in. And then I said, out loud, “I agree.” (My mom will tell you that I have talked to and LOL’d at TV and movies, even when watching by myself, since I was a kid.) And now I can’t stop thinking about it.
Who you are is the things you do.
This is not to say that your profession is who you are. No, it’s how you go about your life. Do you treat people with respect? Do you—to quote a poster in every school counselor’s office—do the right thing, even when no one’s watching? Do you put your resources (time, energy, money) into the things you say you value?
It’s worth assessing (and reassessing).