Mental Meanderings

Recently I began cleaning houses with a friend of mine.  Just something to get me out of the house a couple times a week, and bring in a little extra money.  Today, as I was scrubbing a toilet, I started thinking about how we so often define ourselves, and other people define us, by what we "do".  I wondered about how people might treat me differently if next time my response to "what do you do?" was "I'm a cleaning lady." instead of "I'm an artist."  Both of those statements say so much about how the possessor of the title feels about their self.  The connotations associated with "cleaning lady" are: low paid, menial labor, women's work, unskilled.  When I put cleaning lady into Thesaurus.com I get words like charwoman or maidservant.  Even the way I said above, "just something to get me out of the house..." was like I had to explain that I'm not a cleaning lady.

Someone who calls theirself an artist, on the other hand, sends out vibes of "I'm creative, intuitive, I walk in beauty, I belong to an elite group."  Put that word into Thesaurus.com and you get: artisan, artiste, authority, composer, craftsperson, creator, expert, handicrafter, inventor, painter, virtuoso, whiz.  Quite a difference, yes?

But really, who is to say the cleaning lady isn't an artist?  Whatever a person does, if they do it creatively and with flourish, they create an art of the activity.  And none of us really can be defined by one thing we do, especially that thing we do in order to put food on the table, or to buy art supplies. 

So where was I going with all this?  I don't know.  I think I'm just being philosophical today.  I'll ask you; do you define yourself by what you do?  Do others?  Are you ever bothered when someone else defines you by one aspect of who you are?  I'd love to hear your ideas on this.