Saturday, June 1, 2019

What are your roles?

We are all chameleons.

We switch our colors depending on the situation and are so used to it that we don't even notice. On a typical morning, I transform from groomer to breakfast chef to diner to husband to father then driver and teacher.

Our roles constantly shift throughout the day. At times, I'm a teacher. Other times, I'm a friend or son or shopper or consumer or writer.

When I introspect, I realize that it took me a loooong time to even understand this concept. Then, once I did, it helped me prioritize and ponder what roles are most important to me.

It turns out that the most important commodities are time and money. In order to maximize those, and maximize our lives, prioritizing our roles is critical. How can we properly spend our time or money, if we don't know who we are and what is truly important to us?

Now, this sounds pretty darn simple. But then why do so many people waste time and money on things that aren't priorities?

For me, the roles I prioritize are: 1) husband, 2) father and 3) teacher (or writer, in the summer).

I am wondering what three roles are most important to you. I'm curious Please put your three roles as a comment below.

If you happen to be a student, I wonder if student is No. 1 on your list, or if son or daughter or brother or sister or athlete or Christian or anything else is actually ranked higher than student. If this is difficult, do a chart like this one:

The problem I see around me is that many adults view their roles as 1) work, 2) work and 3) work. I base that on where they spent their time and their conversations.

This work mentality develops in school when many students are either bombarded with work or are so focused on "being successful" or "getting into a good college" that they put their childhoods, family and friends far on the back burner. Is this what we really want from our children?

Well, I am not promoting neglecting schoolwork or our professions. Quite the contrary. I'm just questioning if our time is being spent where we want it.

I won't go on my typical rant on how the kids today are too much on their phones and often not aware of their screen time. I already did that here.

I could also go on a rant on how adults spend too much time with work, and I'm sure they would undoubtedly say work is important because they have to make ends meet. Agreed. But what is the point about making ends meet if that's all we have in our lives?

39 comments:

  1. Daughter, Student, Friend. Those are the three most important roles for me. I always strive to make my mom proud and be as helpful as I can be to my mother. As for student I do not always push as hard as I can but I do understand the importance of being a student and often chose to stay in and do homework rather than going out with my friends. Being a friend, this means to anyone. Not only is it important for me to check up on my close friends and spend time with them because I find it so therapeutic. But it is also a value of mine to notice when someone needs help and be the one to reach out to them in certain situations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your thoughtful and thorough comment. For most of my life, I never even thought of roles. Now, that I'm older I realize that understanding what is important to us helps so much with what we do and where we spend our time. Right?

      Delete
    2. I guess I'm a brother, student, friend, because it the only thing that I think applies to me. I see myself most as a brother because it's what I think of myself. I believe that family comes first.

      Delete
    3. With all the work the students receive, I find it refreshing to see someone without "student" as No. 1.

      Delete
  2. I am a student, son, and a peer. Reading this blog has genuinely opened my eyes to this outlook on life in general. As a student I need to be constantly pushing myself throughout school. As a son I need to be the best I can be because I have a home, food, and a life. As a peer, I wish to support the people I know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ryan, thank you for sharing! I wish I understood this concept of roles earlier in life. I devoted to much of my life only to work. I think that's common for people in their 20s.

      Delete
  3. Student, Son, Artist. I don't like school but it is consuming the entirety of my youth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love that artist is on your list. Yes! Keep creating art. Keep creating art!!

      Delete
  4. I am a family member, friend, and a student, these are all important rolls in my life.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am a son, student, gamer, and friend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder if time spent is gamer, gamer, gamer. Beware! :-)

      Delete
  6. Different aspects of life require different priorities. When I am at school or I have an upcoming exam, my role is a student. I set other distractions aside, push away eating dinner with my family, and instead sit in my room and work. However, there are many moments where assignments and homework is not as important to the other things going on in life. When my friends and family are going through a rough time, I offer a shoulder to cry on. I am a supporter and a student. There are times when I have to focus on myself and my future, yet there are moments where I need to be there for other people that I love.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am a daughter, friend, and a student.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Daughter, friend, and student.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am a daughter, mother (to my pets lol) and a student. Even if i am not the best in any of them,I still try.

    ReplyDelete
  10. For me, I feel like a student, a guy who's trying to get by in life, and a worker. I know this applies to everyone, but I really want a whole day off right now. I was even confused about what my three roles were because school takes up a lot space in my life so that's where I got the roles, worker and student. I honestly feel like as a teen, there is not a lot of roles, comparing to an adult, because we spend 1/4 of everyday locked in school. SOrry for rambling but yeah, I feel like I'm a student, a worker, and a guy trying to get by in life

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear you. What I see for so many people is that they are 1) student, 2) student 3) student or 1) worker 2) worker 3) worker. Is that really being a human being?

      Delete
  11. My me, it depends on all situations that I experience in my life. I'm of course a sister, daughter, friend, classmate, customer, etc. However even if I have so many roles in my life, I will have the most important role of them all. Myself. To be myself in all situations and to never lose my own well-being. However, I am constantly changed to switch from one role to another to meet my daily routine and life, but I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Interesting comment. For me, I guess I am profoundly affected by my wife and children and students, and that's why I break down my roles the way I do.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Athlete.Daughter.Student.Artist.

    ReplyDelete
  14. My roles are brother,son,student ,and an athlete. That might seems like a lot but not really. Mostly, i just try to be the best i can be and give my full effort

    ReplyDelete
  15. I´m a stress student, child, and a leader.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Student.Daughter.Myself.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Sister, Daughter, Weeaboo
    The two most important people in my life are my sister and my mother. Shoutout to sydney. My motivation to live is practically based on them but I, myself believe that as long as I can live up to my expectations I can live up to the name as well.
    The weeaboo part is filler, but still, shout out to goro akechi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I had to Google Weeaboo, and I learned something! I had never heard the term before. Someone obsessed with Japanese culture.

      Delete
  18. Student.Brother.Leader

    ReplyDelete
  19. Student / Friend / Hobbyist

    ReplyDelete
  20. Role 1: Gamer
    Role 2: Disappointing failure
    Role 3: Memer

    Do I have the will to live? No, I don't and never did. It's a genetic mutation, so don't harass me plz.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope to God you're kidding. And I think you are!

      Delete
  21. student/daughter/peer

    ReplyDelete
  22. My role in the morning is student, in the night, the hugest meme dude that no one would ever know, like a magician

    ReplyDelete
  23. Sister, Daughter, Student, and Dancer - I feel like these are all more things that make me up as a person, because truly I am just a person that does many things so I have many many roles that I play in life. Which is why I couldn't just pick three because all four of these things have importance in my life.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The journals that we have in class and the comments that are put in this blog seem exactly like college applications. You need some sort of answer that stands out from all the rest to end up on the wall of fame. This is not a bad thing, I'm just pointing it out as an observation. So... here's my attempt at an answer that is different from all the three worded comments above. Never in my life do I think that I could definitively answer this question. I think that our roles are constantly changing. In life, I get these sudden outbursts of motivation and decide to work extremely hard to get my grades up. It is during this time that I become the "student" my parents want me to be. Also in life are those sudden outbursts of laziness and that just brings out the average teenager in me- spending hours on end on Netflix and Instagram. You see, I like the prompt of this blog entry, but I think finding an answer is extremely hard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, as human beings, we are extremely complicated. Summing up us in just three roles may be oversimplifying. I like your thoughtful response.

      Delete
  25. 1)Son 2)Friend 3)Citizen of the World

    ReplyDelete