How Do You Identify Yourself?

When you introduce yourself, what do you say? In other words, after you tell them your name, what do you say to describe yourself? Most of us identify ourselves according to our occupation. For the past 3 years, I’ve been saying, “I’m Linda Ratcliff, and I'm the sales manager for a senior community.” This has been on my mind lately, because I’m just a few short months away from retiring again, and people are asking what I’m going to do next.

My daughter asked this question yesterday, and I responded by saying that I was looking into taking some proofreading courses, because I know I could do this well. I find errors in almost everything I read, and I’m a voracious reader. And she exclaimed, “NO, mom. You’re 77. It’s time for you to retire!” So, am I going to simply identify myself as “retired” from now on? I don’t think I want to.

This is an important question. How you see yourself is how you think, and how you think is how you act. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” So, for example, if you believe in your heart that you are a procrastinator, you will be the type to save up tasks until the last possible moment. It has probably cost you work promotions, maybe even relationships. What if you believe in your heart and tell others, “I’m bad at learning.”? You’ll miss out on new opportunities because you will be certain that you’re not smart enough to acquire that new skill.


So back to my own upcoming situation, after a gap in the conversation, my daughter tried a different approach. She said, “Tell me what you are planning to do for fun.”

Ahhhh. I got it! I AM A MUSICIAN.  

That's been my passion, my hobby, even my living at times, all my life. I have a mountain dulcimer, hammered dulcimer, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, strum stick, ukulele, keyboard, spoons, and 2 harmonicas.

But I haven’t played some of these for a few years. My son is planning to buy a looping machine so we can experiment with that. I’m finally going to have the leisure time I need to do all that. I can’t wait.

How about you?

What follows the words “I am …” when you introduce yourself? What is your passion?  Do you ever identify yourself as a musician? I think you should.

Start believing it in your heart and telling others. It will have an impact on the success you experience when playing your dulcimer.

Happy dulcimering,
Linda