Ten Pages of "Who am I?"

According to "What Color is your Parachute?", one of the books I am using to guide my transition, job search, life change, the first challenge is find out who you are. So, it says to take ten sheets of paper and write Who am I? at the top of each one followed by one answer on each page. Here are mine in the order I thought of them : Teacher, Explainer, Writer, Runner, Reader, Salesman, Father, Brother, Uncle, Scrabble Nut, Chess Player, Board President, Listener, Problem Solver, Comedian, Cook, Handyman, Art Lover. Music Lover, Theatre Lover, Organizer, Director, Manager.

It shows you where my head was that day, very shortly becoming not a Manager. Interesting, no?
I'm sure you've noticed that the list contains more than ten answers, so let's cull that list and move a few things around:

Runner Teacher, Explainer, Listener, Problem Solver,, Salesman, Customer Service Maven, Writer, Reader, Father, Brother, Uncle, Family Member, Scrabble Nut, Chess Player, Game Player, , Comedian, Cook, Handyman, Art Lover. Music Lover, Theatre Lover  Lover of the Arts, Organizer, Director,Board President Manager.

Wow, that's a lot of crossing out, changing things around and re-naming, but that's how the exercise should go. Now to expand on each a little and say what turns me on about each one. (Each one of me?) And, after that put them into an order of importance. Who will be number one?

Runner: This may not end up being number one, but running has become a consuming passion for me. It has returned me to the shape and condition I had twenty years ago. It makes me so happy just to be out in the air and on the road, to say nothing of the ninety pounds, yes, ninety pounds, I've dropped in the past four years.

Customer Service Maven: This was a title given to me by my customers and I've taken it to heart. I like being up on the latest thing in light bulbs or timers or glues or a thousand other equally mundane products that everyone needs to have around their home these days. It gives me such pleasure when someone comes back into the store and says "You know that stuff you said would take the rust off of my iron? Well, it did. Thanks." Simple joys are the sweetest.

Writer: I try to write every day about what I see and hear, what I am feeling and doing. In the parlance of the 1960's "It feeds my head." I write on two bulletin boards, Able2Know.com and Facebook, both are excellent forums for both getting to know others and getting to know yourself. I have two blogs, this one, Transitional Species, about changing my life and Window which is my catch-all for running news and other happenings I happen to happen on during the day or night.

Reader: I love words. I have always loved reading. My MP3 player has four times as many books on it as it does music. Right now, there is a book on Darwinism, one on Cosmology, a novel about the building of medieval cathedrals and the first six lectures on Physics by Richard Feynman. I just started reading a book about how the brain changed itself to allow us as humans to read. Reading is a relatively new skill for us humans, only about four thousand years old. Got Parachute, of course, and a new, as yet unpublished, tongue in cheek book about the rules of running. I love learning.

Family Member: How many roles here? Father, brother, uncle, and all of them bringing me great joy. I relish hearing about what my kid (okay, he's 36 but he's my kid) is doing as well as all the adventures of the nieces and my siblings. My brother just got back from Ghana. I'm also one of the family's genealogists with a huge amount of research already done connecting us to over 4,000 individuals and many generations. I get excited when I find another connection.

Game Player: Scrabble, on line or in person, I will never turn down a chance to play. I like Chess, but I'm really not very good at it. For me, both games are about those ah-ha moments. You look at the tiles and suddenly see DENIZEN and it will fit on a triple or you imagine what would happen if you moved your bishop two spaces up and you see you will have trapped your opponent's Queen. Such joy.

Comedian: I'm funny. I say funny things. I say them to make people laugh and relax. When they do, I do.
I like that very much. When I tell people that I am required by the New York State Manicure Preservation Act to put their new keys onto their new key rings, it gives them a little break in their day.

Cook: Boy, do I love food. Eating is good, but cooking is better.  I love experimenting with another way to make Lamb Stew. There is no one who can make a fluffier omelet with just the right amount of mushrooms and cheese. I like making my own salad dressing and steaming up a nice combination of veggies to go on the side of well-grilled steak. Pass the crunchy bread with the brie stuffed inside. Yum.

Lover of the Arts: Music moves me. Rampal or Woody Guthrie. Art moves me. Monet or Picasso. Musical theatre, YES. Serious drama, yes, yes. I get bowled out by the depth of the experiences. That's what art is supposed to do and it does it for me.

Manager: I am a good organizer. I like people and tasks and putting the two together. Without ever trying, I get placed in leadership roles. I am presently the President of my Co-op. I was the floor manager of the hardware store, directing the daily operations of the place, making sure that the customers were being taken of and that the workers weren't being over burdened. It was fun for me. I've been a television director: Live TV News and Live TV music. I like being in the midst of chaos and being able to point the way forward. It's a thrill.
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Here's the list in top to bottom order of most importance:

1. Maven
2. Writer
3. Runner
4. Manager
5. Reader
6. Family Member
7. Comedian
8. Game Player
9. Cook
10. Art lover

These are all about creating, creating solutions, creating relations, creating changes and the joy and satisfaction that comes from being part of the process or leading the process.

I learned something about myself here. Try it for yourself even if you are not looking for a job.