Me versus my life

I have on several occasions noticed that some people -- maybe most -- fail to make a distinction between themselves and their lives. To me these are distinct entities, that is, I am entirely different from my life. If I interview for a job and don't get it, then my life may have taken a beating, but I am just the same as before, albeit possibly with slightly decreased self-esteem. If I crash my car but walk away from the accident, again my life has suffered but I am fine. Inheriting a million bucks improves my life but does nothing for me.

We could say that I am my body or, if you prefer, my body and my mind, but my life comprises my car, my home, my friends, my clothing, my job, my status, my reputation, and so on. A derelict sleeping on the street might have a wreck of a life but still have a sound body and mind though, of course, if he's on the street because of alcoholism, for example, then his body and mind might also be a mess. These days there are certainly plenty of professional people who have fallen on hard times, perhaps lost their job, then lost everything else, and so appear to be pretty bad off. But the person might actually be quite all right -- just as smart and interesting and knowledgeable and articulate as ever -- but their life has gone down the tubes. In many cases, a big pile of money might be all it takes to change a good person with a bad life into a good person with a good life.

So it's important not to confuse the two.