Work is an essential part of life. Your work is your IDENTITY. - Kay Stepkin

At first glance I would just memorize this quote and would feel smarter than everyone else, but that's just not right now, is it? Instead I decided to give this quote some more thought.

After analyzing the quote, I gained a new insight: work is an essential part of life. Does it say we could avoid work? No. According to Stepkin, work IS a part of life. We have no choice. Just like how there are no meetings without any people, there are no lives without work.

If this is true, then even a young teenager like me has work. Moreover, Stepkin mentioned that work defines our identity. So is my work all there is to me? Am I only my work?

Well, I do believe that I am only my work. Work does not only mean jobs or schools or responsibilities. Rather, work is doing something to achieve a goal. So can I say that playing video games is also work? Indeed it is! I work to have fun. I work to be entertained. All the work that I have done in my life has been forming the Jasper Tan that I now am. All the work in my life has formed my identity. Even right now as I do more work, my identity continually changes.

Therefore, who I am right now is all the work I have done. All the work I have done in the past has shaped my present identity, and all the work I am doing right now is forming my identity to become, well... Me!