I am not a lawn mower

Being unemployed and with the pandemic in flux, I’ve taken to mowing the lawn for several folks in my neighborhood.

I’m good at it too, since 4 years of marching band taught me how to walk in straight lines (and pay attention to detail). I figure I’ve made $100 so far.

Point is, mowing lawns is something I do. I’ve made money doing it. But I wouldn’t call it a profession. And I wouldn’t call myself a ‘lawn-mower.’

Similarly, writing is also something I do and that I’m moderately good at. But that doesn’t have to be who I am, indefinitely.

Perhaps you too call yourself something you don’t want to forever be. Or maybe, someday soon, you’d like to call yourself something else.

My advice to you is, go ahead. Call yourself a designer, a teacher, a leader, or a saint. Tell yourself you're sociable or confident or friendly. No one’s stopping you.

Believing—it turns out—is the first step to becoming. And becoming—by repeatedly acting the way you’d like to be—is the only way to really be.

If you want to be someone you’re not, get to it. ‘Who you are’ is a choice you get to make everyday.