Saying you are more than the sum of your past actions at any point of life is like saying the contents of a used condom is 'life'. Everything has potential, or in the words of Sartre (on talking about these kinds of people) - "Circumstances have been against me. What I've been and done doesn't show my true worth...there remains within me, unused and quite viable, a host of propensities, inclinations, possibilities, that one wouldn't guess from the mere series of things I've done". Such self deception is almost amusing. In stating humans are what they have actually done doesn't neglect their potential to be more but rather, is "optimistically tough" within an unforgiving rational context (which is the best kind if you want my opinion). We need to value reality more, because it is reality that affects others and our futures, and it is reality that spurs onwards. This idea "prompts people to understand that reality alone is what counts, that dreams, expectations, and hopes warrant no more than to define a man as a disappointed dream, as miscarried hopes, as vain expectations. In other words, to define him negatively and not positively".
I love rereading Sartre's essays every once in a while. Touch me, I give you consent (Existentialism and Human Emotion).
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