As I navigate these questions of company kept, "who do I want to be?" becomes perhaps less vital than "who do I want to be seen as?" since I am of course everything, dependent on situation.
Isn't one just a precursor to the other? To be seen as something you do actions that make you look like that something and by doing those actions you become that something. "Fake it 'till you make it"-type thing.
But the individual perceiving only sees a subset of all my actions, so to different people I appear to be different things. Add to that their personal predisposition to define me in a particular way, and I can "be" a very different person depending on who's looking. Because others' perceptions of me seep into how I perceive myself, both my actions and my choice of witnesses to those actions contribute to my overall sense of self.
Isn't one just a precursor to the other? To be seen as something you do actions that make you look like that something and by doing those actions you become that something. "Fake it 'till you make it"-type thing.
ReplyDeleteBut the individual perceiving only sees a subset of all my actions, so to different people I appear to be different things. Add to that their personal predisposition to define me in a particular way, and I can "be" a very different person depending on who's looking. Because others' perceptions of me seep into how I perceive myself, both my actions and my choice of witnesses to those actions contribute to my overall sense of self.
ReplyDelete