What Kind of Human do I Want to be Today?
What is it about us that makes us human? So many people have been trying to answer that question for thousands of years. Mystics, philosophers, scientists, theologians, and so many others have tried to tackle this question. It’s a question many of us have wondered ourselves a time or two, but why? We are inherently human, so why do we ask the question: What makes us human? I don’t mean to minimize the significance of this question because, honestly, I think it is a worthwhile question to continue to ponder now and for ages to come. But only so long as it does not prevent us from being human now. From living our lives in the practical reality of the everyday world. A better, more practical question to ask ourselves that will apply directly to our everyday lives is what kind of human do I want to be today?
Anyone who has asked themselves this question knows it’s not a simple one to answer and is even more challenging to follow through with the answer once it's decided. But it’s a worthwhile question to ask because of its practicality for our lives, both day-to-day as well as for our lives as a whole. Now, in answering this basic question, further questions will be elicited to clarify the response, and that’s okay. In fact, it’s good (so long as you don’t travel down the rabbit hole too far and lose the practicality of the response). There is no right way to answer the question what kind of human do I want to be today, however, there may be some wrong answers if they involved harm and manipulation. For the most part, people want to grow and be better than they were the day before, and many more want to at least be good.
So how does the answer to his question affect one’s daily life? Well, it’s not the answer itself that affects the individual, it’s the living out of the answer that very same day which has the greatest effect. If I decide that the kind of human I want to be that day is driven to accomplish my goals but is still kind and charitable to others, then I’m not only going to make time to work on the goals that are important to me, but I will also try to make or give time to others who need it from me. This may take the form of both closing my office door for a couple of hours in hopes of making significant progress towards my goals, while simultaneously scheduling lunch with a coworker to catch up after the holidays. Perhaps you might want to be the kind of human who doesn’t lose her temper so easily, or the kind of person who isn’t going to get defensive when someone questions or even challenges his idea for a project. The possibilities for answering this question are practically endless, as are the practical benefits of living out those answers.
If you’re like me even a little bit, you’ve wrestled with the question what does it mean to be human and have sought out and studied a number of different forms of knowledge trying to get close to an answer. And if you’re like me during that search, it made you feel stuck. The sheer scope of that question and the possible answers to it froze you into stagnation because of its impractical unclarity. But instead of trying to figure out what it means to be human every day, you can create your own definition of it by deciding what kind of human you want to be, then living out those decisions as you go about your day-to-day life. Asking myself this question prevented me from stagnation; it kept me from feeling an answer was not possible. Instead, it gave me a method to practically approach my own humanity in a daily, hands-on manner.
Sometimes I’m not very good at answering what kind of human I want to be that day, other times I do a pretty poor job of actually being the human I said I wanted to be. But the beauty of this question is that it takes insight from each day: good or bad, on target or way off the mark. It allows you to reflect on the day prior: if it was a good day, you can repeat it or move the mark forward; if it wasn’t such a great day, then try again or make an adjustment that might be more attainable. Regardless of what kind of human I was the day before I get to decide what kind of human I want to be today. I get to decide how aspirational the answer is or how achievable the answer is and, really, I think both answers are important to have each day. But no matter how you approach answering and living out this question, it can help you to live a life of purpose, aspiration, and practicality. It isn’t easy, but as the old saying goes, nothing that’s good in life comes easily (or without a lot of calories). But that is part of the answer itself, whatever kind of human we decide we want to be that day we will have to struggle, work, and reach to live up to it.
So, whether you are trying to constantly grow, or you are trying to keep yourself from feeling overwhelmed by attempting to discover what makes us human, join me in asking ourselves every day, what kind of human do I want to be today?
