Not too long ago, a man at a friend’s work passed away. He was spoken of so kindly by those who knew him, said to be a happy, helpful person, one who made everyone feel valued at all times. The loss of this man was felt deeply in the work community, for his kindness, and his empathy. He used to tell everyone where he worked because he was so proud of it, he made others proud to work there too.
He was the cleaner.
A person so often overlooked, so rarely remembered.
It brought into sharp focus something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.
Over the past 8 months, I’ve been acting as the manager at work and one of the things that has come with that is a lot of discussion about where I want to go with my career, what I want to do next, and what this experience can teach me. That’s required a lot of soul searching, and although I have an answer for my career, something else became clear to me as well: I don’t want to be remembered just for being good at my job (although of course I’d like that too).
I don’t want to be remembered just for being hard working, good at excel, or any of the other things people write on my references. I don’t want to leave people’s lives and have them say “boy, she was such a good *insert job title here*”.
I want to be remembered for being kind. For being loyal. For caring.
I don’t remember where I read it but I recall reading something that said: Make a list of all the things you are. Have someone you trust add to that list. Good things, bad things, everything that you are.
Then add some words you want to be.
Cross out the ones you don’t.
Go, and be that person.
It seems so simple, but it’s such an amazing way to focus yourself. I put some words down, I added some, and I crossed some out, and I ended up with a list – who I want to be. What I want to be remembered for:
Warm
Kind
Fun
Caring
Loyal
Now, all that is left is to be that person. It’s as simple and as difficult as that.
Who do you want to be? What do you want to be remembered for?
