Who I Want To Be

Recently, I have been watching the show Severance. Without spoiling anything, it’s a show where the main characters have two distinct and separate versions of themselves. These versions are known as their “innies” and “outies”. In the show the “innies” are given hope by being told praise about their “outies”.

This concept got me thinking about how we all have two versions of ourselves. We have who we are, the person who exists, tries to live and makes mistakes. We also have who we want to be, the mythical version of ourselves we strive to achieve.

I think it’s valuable to know who my “outie” is. Similar to the classic “what would Jesus do?”, I can ask “what would I do?” and hopefully find guidance knowing I can imitate the version of myself that I want to be.

First I need to figure out who I want to be. What are the traits that make him who he is? I also need to figure out what it means to have those traits. I need to go beyond the bullet point and figure out what qualities each guiding trait has.

Let me introduce you to Dominick. Dominick is the person I am striving to be. I am not always able to be him but when I am at my best, I resemble him. When I am struggling, I look to him for inspiration.

Dominick is a problem solver. He loves an intellectual challenge. He has a broad range of domain knowledge and works to keep it sharp. He dedicates his time to intellectual pursuits with the goal of being able to solve anything that comes his way. He also takes time to be creative in order to practice problem solving on occasion. He learns and he teaches willingly and often. He does this for his own personal growth because he is interested, rather than career or pay.

Dominick is a positive person. He looks at life with the glass half full. He likes to approach things with an open mind and often finds joy in every situation. He brings this positivity and shares it with others. He does not want to spread negativity because it takes away from the world.

Dominick cares about people. This goes beyond simple pleasantries. He takes the time to bring people together. He is a hub for his friends and does not mind reaching out to plan things. He takes initiative to spend time with people. He doesn’t let people take advantage of him but he always goes above and beyond for people around him. He does this selflessly and does not expect anything in return.

Dominick is a hard worker. He understands that not everything in life is easy. When things get difficult he rolls up his sleeves and puts the effort in. He never backs down from a difficult task.

Dominick takes care of himself. He regularly exercises and pushes himself to improve. He takes good care of his diet and fitness to stay happy and healthy. This includes resting and setting reasonable boundaries in his life so that he can be the most optimal version of himself.

I hope this gives a sense of who Dominick is. You can meet parts of him when spending time with me. I hope you can come to enjoy that time as I think he is worth dedicating my life to strive for.

Now this kind of exercise is personal. I am posting mine as a time capsule. A way for me to look back and see what mattered to me. I also hope that in some way this will be useful to others as an example exercise for people who may be a little lost or find themselves missing guidance on their actions. So please take a moment and ask yourself, “who do I want to be?”.