Who are you? Who do you want to be?

Who do you want to be?

Are you the person you were five years ago? Are you the person you were yesterday? What about the you of tomorrow? Or you in twenty years? Philosophers and people alike have been asking this question for centuries, and I am not here to provide an answer. I am here to ask a question.

Who do you want to be?

Your idea of self is constantly changing. Don’t believe me? Here is an example. Let’s say you loved a band/artist a few years ago. This band and their aesthetic was a part of you, but that isn’t the music you listen to now. This is still you, but it is not the current version of you.

A famous Greek philosopher, Plutarch, once described “self” as a ship. The story is known as The Ship of Theseus. To elaborate, picture a beautiful boat. Over time, a few boards needed repairs, so they were replaced with new identical boards. A few years pass, and the same problem arises. More boards get replaced. This keeps repeating to the point that the ship has no original boards left. Is it the same ship? Yes and no. It is still the same ship with the same shape and style, but different.

We change as people. New interests come up, old ones go away. New people come into our lives, and others leave. Boards on your ship get replaced, but the boat remains. Your past is yours. Still, who you were is not who you are! The idea of yourself is purely up to you. Every day is a new day and a new day to be whoever you want to be. If you don’t like something, change it. You have one life, and you get to choose what you want to do with it. Become who you want to be. Become your best you.