I am what I am; I become what I practice.
Popeye said “I yam what I yam!” but it is easy to be secure in who you think you are when you are created from imagination; for the rest of us, the "Who Am I" question goes without an answer far too frequently.
We are all dealt a hand of something. Some are given cards from a stacked deck and it creates a hot mess (insert name of latest Hollywood starlet who is famous only because mom or dad has money). Others start with something less than a pair of 2's and, with great patience, they create a winning hand.
Regardless of where we are in life, today is the day to orient ourselves to good principles, sound logic, and divine providence. This "Axis of Good" (Principles, logic, and Divine Providence) are worth focusing on because they existed before any of us were born and will surely outlast us all.
In view of that, it is not realistic to expect that any human can come into life with this "Axis" intact. It means that we need to see life for what it is and ourselves for what we are. That should not bring comfort but it should create a sense of direction and a lack of motion in that direction. It could mean that you need to get a survival plan and get food storage. It could also mean that you need to reach out to somebody that you have not talked to in a long time. It might require an apology or might just be a random act of doing what is good.
In any circumstance (whether you are Mother Theresa or the average person just trying to get by) you are who you are but what you choose to do changes who you WILL be *because you become what you practice.*If you practice being nice, you become…. wait for it… nice.
If you have made bad choices in life (who hasn't) you have an opportunity to take time, get advice and make decisions with better judgment and you become a person who gets better at making decisions. Of course, none of us can walk away from what has brought us to this point but we CAN determine where we land if we change where we are directed. So, yes, we are what we are but we become what we practice.