T.H.I.N.K. – Who Are You?

Who are you?  Tough question isn’t it?  Most people can’t answer it.  We often equate our identities with our jobs (e.g. I’m a doctor).  This leads many premeds to become so dogmatic that medicine is the only thing for them, that they fail to appreciate the other joys of life. “If I don’t become a doctor, I’ll never be happy!”  Well, I’d argue that you are more than a premed, and one day you’ll be more than a doctor.  Your job does not define you.  Who are you???

Considering this query and reflecting on my own life, I devised a way to answer the question, “who are you?”  It’s a very simple exercise, but it requires extreme introspection and honesty.  It’s my “T.H.I.N.K.” method.  Let’s get started.

T=Time.  Imagine that your long-lost uncle dies and leaves you with 86,400 pennies to spend every day.  The catch however is that you must spend all of it daily in order to get another 86,400 pennies the next day.  How would you spend it?  It’s likely you’d pay for your necessities (e.g. food, bills, etc.) then purchase the things you value the most.  Consider this, each day, God gives us 86,400 seconds that we can’t carry over to tomorrow.  The way we spend that time is a reflection of what we believe to be most important.  Even when we say something is important to us, the truth is revealed when we evaluate how we spend our time.  Is helping the needy important to you?  If so, your calendar should reflect it.

Question #1: What do you spend most of your time doing?

H=Hurt. My favorite Olympic moment was Keri Strug’s 1996 vault.  In the finals, Strug bombed her first attempt and got up limping.  It was clear that something was wrong with her ankle.  Through that pain and hurt, you could see her character.  While many people would have given up, Strug hobbled on along.  With a roaring crowd behind her, she bolted down the runway and nailed her second attempt on one foot.  After posing just long enough to secure the victory, she fell to the ground in agony.  Pain leads to action.  You either push through or withdraw.  What you do in times of pain demonstrates your character.  Furthermore, on an emotional level, the things that hurt you are the things that you care about.

Question #2: What single thing hurts you the most (on an emotional level)?  What do you do as a result of that hurt?

I= Inspire. There’s a great picture of Kobe Bryant standing next to Michael Jordan.  In it, the two are standing in the same position.  Kobe would be the first to tell you that Michael is one of his greatest inspirations.  What does this truly mean?  When a person inspires you, there is something special in him or her that you desire to have within yourself.  A certain character trait that resonates with you. Something you want to be part of your own identity.

Question #3: Who inspires you the most?  What is it about that person that inspires you?

N=Nurture. The Chinese Bamboo tree is quite the marvel.  To grow one of these, you first have to plant your seed.  Then you begin to care for it.  You have to water it, then water it, then water it.  Years go by and still nothing.  Then one day, it sprouts out from the ground and begins to grow faster than any tree you’ve seen.  This mighty tree that seems to pop up out of nowhere is the result of years of attention and nurturing.  For anything worthwhile to develop, it requires nurturing. Whether or not you realize it, every day you are nurturing things.  The things which we nurture, determine our impact on the world and how others will eventually view us.  They also determine how we will eventually view ourselves.

Question #4: What things do you nurture?

K=Know.  “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”  At the end of the day, we must hold fast to a conviction that is the foundation of our actions.  Something that we believe so deeply, it unshakable knowledge.   It is ingrained in your core and is the nidus for all your other beliefs.  Truly, this is the most important element of you being able to define your identity.  For most people, the answer takes them back to the question of ages, “why we are here?”  If you don’t know, what you know (i.e. what you believe with utmost conviction), you have no foundation to stand upon and to develop your identity.

Question #5: What do you know to be true above all else?

I challenge each of you to spend time answering these questions and write down your answers in sentence format.  Read it over like a paragraph.  Truly reflect on them and come to an understanding of who you are at your innermost core.   After completing this exercise, please share with us how it impacted you. Did you learn something about yourself?

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