self_definition Ptolemy DCLVIII Choosing to define_oneself has pros and cons, as does choosing to not. It is really a matter of personal philosophy. My life is definitely for the better for having periodically decided what I was and what I wasn't, what I would and would not become. I have made significant_changes to myself through definition and redefinition, changes that I would not have arrived at through passivity. Now_and_then there are times when one finds that one only partially satisfies the way in which one has (re)defined oneself, but if that sometimes requires a change in one's self-definition, it much more frequently is simply an opportunity for self-improvement. Some choose not to define themselves, and that's up to them. That route has its pros_and_cons, too. That path never helped me out much so I can't speak to it, but I know it has worked wonders for others, so I shant disparage it either. There are aspects of myself that are strong now which were once weak. The first_step to changing into a stronger person was deciding to define myself as a stronger person, and then transform myself accordingly. When life has asked me, "How_do_you_define_yourself?", the question has seldom been satisfied with negatives. My life has taught me to take a bold stance on who I am and go from there. Of course, for other people, their lives have taught them to do the reverse, and that's great. To write off either approach as inappropriate for oneself is perhaps necessary, but to deplore the opposing approach in others is fully_preposterous. While one can often assist others in self-growth by showing what has worked for oneself, it is of little service to the troubled to insult alternative routes simply because those routes didn't work for oneself. Of course, deciding that one won't define oneself IS a self-definition... but for some that is the only safe definition to adopt. For some, mutability is an enduring trait, and for others, fixedness. It really is simply a matter of knowing_thyself. 060316 what's it to you? who go blather from