What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

I remember being asked this question a lot when I was a kid. Every year I had a different answer - first I wanted to be a computer software engineer just like my dad, then I wanted to be an astronaut (that was my Star Trek phase), then there was a crazy year when for some reason I thought I wanted to be a doctor (hehe), then it morphed into a desire to be an architect, followed by a history teacher, then a math teacher, then a freelance artist.

I recently witnessed a dad asking his daughter the same question and she eagerly answered, "A doctor!" After giving her a high-five, I turned to my friend, who is about to enter medical school, and asked him the same question. He looked at me, surprised, and said "A doctor," and then, thinking I meant what kind of doctor he wanted to be, added, "An otolaryngologist."

But that's not what I meant. I know what he is going to do for the rest of his life. But I wanted to know what he wants to be. 

Being a medical student identifies me, but it doesn't define me. It has changed me, molded me, pushed me to grow, but it does not complete me. I will be a doctor (God willing), I will practice medicine, I will try to help people with illnesses as much as I am able. But that is not the end of what I want to be.

I encourage all those reading this post to ask this question to yourselves, right now, no matter how old you are, how settled in your career you are.

"What do I want to be when I grow up?" Or maybe a more appropriate rendition of this question is, "Who do I want to be?"

It's not about your career goals, it's not about hopes and desires for marriage and a family, it's not about a bucket list of countries you want to travel to, things you want to see, mountains you want to climb, books you want to write.

All those goals are well and good in and of themselves, but what does it all come out to? How does it help you grow? What are you going to take away from those experiences? How will you give back to the world?

I know what I want to be - I want to be a better, kinder, gentler person. I want to be wiser, more well-read, more understanding, more forgiving. I want to stop doing stupid things and conquer my pride.

So, what do you want to be?