We are what we do

I know of we are what we eat, but can we really be what we do? If we take a look at “we are what we eat” it is as simple as if we eat fatty foods, we are fat, we eat healthy foods, we are healthy.

Does what we do determine who we are? The phrase “what we do” would mean the job we do. We are supposed to be able to choose the job we want or do what we love. Yet I don’t think this should determine who we are.

To look at an example, although the guys collecting garbage may have not wanted to collect garbage, they still do so to earn a living. If they are what they do, they’d technically be garbage, which they can’t be as they are merely collecting our garbage.

Now from another point of view, if you think of someone who does nothing (unemployed), would it be okay to say that that someone is nothing? That would not be nice now would it?