So often our small talk with strangers or conversations with new friends include the questions, “Do you go to school?” “Where do you work?” “What are you studying?”. With the answers to these three questions, we are able to formulate our opinion and first impression of that person within a short 7 seconds. We determine if we think they’re lazy, motivated or intelligent by just a few, very shallow questions. It’s the way our society runs, and it is how it is and there’s nothing we can do about it besides accept it. Right?

When we start to view ourselves the way we think other people view us, that’s when the red flag should go up and sirens should sound. The essence of who we are will never be defined by our answers to those trivial questions, nor should we let our answers dictate how we live our lives. If we are letting what people think about us change the course of our lives, then we need to do some serious re-evaluating.

We do it more often than we realize, and more than we care to admit. We might go to college because we think it’s what we are supposed to do, even though we have no clue what we actually want to do. We might study a certain subject because it’s what our parents told us to do, and it makes the most money. We might work at a job we hate because it will look good on a resume. But if we’re doing these things because society tells us to and not because it’s what we have chosen for ourselves, have we lost sight of who we really are?

So often I find myself letting my answers to these questions define me. College student. Studying business. Working in an office job. Thankfully, I’ve chosen these things for myself and although it gets repetitive, I’m grateful for these things in my life. But is that all I am? A college student studying business who works in an office? Not at all. And it shouldn’t define me, and it doesn’t make me superior or inferior to anyone else.

If I wanted to, I could have chosen not to go to a university and started working full time at a job I loved. I could have gone to trade school. I could have given up all worldly possessions and traveled the world. I could have done any of these things, and still, none of it would define me. It wouldn’t have mattered how many crazy looks I would have gotten if I decided to live out of my car on the road.

It wouldn’t have mattered how mad my parents would have been if I didn’t attend school and chose to work instead. None of it would have mattered because none of those things define who I am. None of those things define who you are.

You are defined by your heart. Your character. Your passions.

You are defined by what makes you laugh, what makes you cry. Your likes, your dislikes, your loves, and your hates.

You are defined by your beliefs and your dreams. Your insecurities and your greatest attributes.

You are defined by the love of the God who created you.

You are defined by who you are now and who you hope to become.

All of that and more is the very core of who you are. Don’t ever let anyone or anything, or any answer to a silly question, define who you are.