Do you define yourself or your significant other by their job title?

mommyboo, You've raised a truly philosophical question. This comes down to how we define ourselves, beyond just the work we do. I'm lucky that I don't work, so I don't have to define myself by what I do. Yet, even as I say this, I realize that others define me by what I DON"T do. So it still comes down to what you do or don't do for a living. Part of the fault is in how we let others know what we do for a living. Is it more accurate to say: "I'm a doctor" or "I work as a doctor"? Some jobs are simply jobs; done for the income, but nothing else. So, one would say: "I flip hamburgers at McDonald's" as opposed to: "I'm a hamburger flipper." But other jobs are considered more in terms of your character. That is to say, they're more avocations than vocations. An artist is an artist, whether they earn their living through their art, or simply do it as a hobby. So I suppose, over and above what you do for a living, it is how deeply your work influences, or is influenced by, your character. But then this applies in everything that we do in life. Am I a father? Or do I just have children? Are you a housewife? Or do you simply look after your home? I could say that none of this defines us at all. That we are more than the sum of all the things we do in life. It might be easy for someone like me to say it, because I've spent my whole life searching for meaning and identity. Others might find this threatening to their identity. The majority would find their lives empty and devoid of meaning without all the paraphernalia of daily life. Karim

I've never identified myself by my job title or by my husband's job title. Perhaps it is because identifying myself as a "yearbook picture processor" or a "nurse's assistant" or even a "machinist's wife" don't sound like dignified roles. However, I really think that the reason that I don't identify myself in that way is because my career or my husband's career really doesn't say too much about me at all. I would rather be identified as Kathryn and Paul's mother or as an artist than by our actual job titles.

Title get people stuck. I don't do that. I am not the wife of a.... I am the life partner of a great man. What tile is better then that. If we are going to give out title let those titles be true to who we are and not to what we do. People who do that to me are just silly

I have never described myself by what I did for a living. That was just whatever supplied the money I needed to be me. I think of myself as what I think and how I feel about things.

It is really great that 'contributing their lives to the country save', that's why the spouse of military men feel proud to mention their job title.

Other people calls us by our profession ,but here in our community ,they call us by our name.. Sometimes others think that we have lots of money cause we are both engineer,they wont believe if we say we have money but not much as they think we have.

In the context of talking with a strange, the occupation can be a nice, middle of the road topic to discuss. To truthfully answer who you are could move more quickly to personal information. Military people and those in certain 'rescue' fields do tend to get lots of praise. That's OK, as long as we realize at some point - enough is enough. Those not in the military should not be made to feel less.

I think we all to often judge a person by what their job title is, we believe that it reviels things about a person such as their ambition and determination in life. I do not believe this is always the case...I was a manager at a fast food rest. for 5 years of my life and I was always kind of embarrassed to tell people where I worked and I dont know why...I worked a min or 50 hours a week on my feet in a high paced work place, I worked very hard to support my family and only called in sick 2 days in 5 years. I should have been proud of my convictions and work ethic, I was a very motivated and dependable person and worker yet I was deeply embarrassed. The first question I ask people now is not what they do but just simply do you work? Then if they would like to tell me more about their job that is fine but any body who gets up everyday and puts one foot in front of the other to make their way in this world without depending on anybody else is ok with me weather they are a world renouned surgeon or a cashier at the local gas station.