Defining Yourself

Not letting your career define you is pretty hard.

"Hi, I'm Alice. I'm a car mechanic.";"Hi, I'm Bob. I'm an accountant." ; "Hi, I'm Phil. I'm a product manager." And a gazillion other cocktail party intros, personal bios, and other bylines.

Seems like it's the default intro, but should it be? Why is it like so?

We're so much more than our working lives. Or are we?