Who are you?

"Tell us a little about yourself."

"How do you process?"

"What makes you...you?"

"Who are you?"

These are some scary and loaded questions. There are about 1,000 different ways each one of us could answer them.  So how do we answer it? Do we start with our gender? Sexuality? Age? Maybe start with our spiritual life? Or perhaps our hobbies? 

There really isn't one way to answer "who are you?". And I think a lot of people struggle to answer these questions--even people who are confident in who they are. Sure we can rattle off our likes and dislikes, but what about how we funcation, process and view the world? Those are pretty important things to know and be able to articulate about yourself. But those are the things that so often get left out. 

There are lots of "personally test" out there but one of the more popular is the Myers-Briggs. There are 4 categories and 2 choices for each with 16 different possible out comes.  We all fit somewhere in one of these 16 outcomes--it might not be a perfect fit, but it gives us a pretty good idea. This test helps to identify how people process, make decsions, and where our values come from. 

The first category is probably the most well known and easiest to identify with. This category is how you get energy, and not like the energy you get from coffee. But like your drive, focus, and the source of energy. 

E - Extraversion -- draw energy from others. Processes with others. "Live it, then understand it." Basically, you need people.  

I -Introversion -- draws energy from self, reflects, inwardly directed, "understand it, then live it."

Next is how you take in information. 

S - Sensing -- focus on the present, concrete information, facts, details, reality-based. 

N- Intuition -- focus on meaning, possibilities, hunches, the future, patterns, and theoretical.  

Third is what you do with that information. How you come to a conclusion. 

T - Thinking --based on logical thinking, analysis, objective, and criteria. 

F - Feeling -- based on circumstance, sympathy, personal, and values. 

The last category is how you see the world and your life. 

J - Judging -- you prefer life to be planned, settled, organized, have goals, and systematic. 

P - Perceiving -- you like to be spontaneous, flexiable, let life happen, and open to change. 

So we have a little over view of the different personalities.  Some people are very strong in some area and fall in the middle of others. For example, mine comes out to ENFP/J. I score VERY high with extrovert, strong intution and feeling but I'm pretty even on judging and perceiving. It has come out different ways different times I've taken it.  The first three are always the same, but I flip back and forth on the last one.  Honestly, I think it has to do with my stress. When there is a lot going on, I need a plan and lots and lots of lists! I'm also naturally good at organizing things...you can't tell that from my room, but I am. However, when there is no impending doom in my life I prefer to just make it up as I go along and get bored with schedules and detailed steps.  But that is just me. 

Okay, so why is any of this important?  Why should we be able to understand our own character traits  and then recognize how other people function? The simple anawer is it makes life better! Understanding yourself is such an important thing and understanding others is crucial in building relationships and working along side others. Two examples. First, I get drained when I have  spent the whole day alone. I am physically and emotionally tired when I have set in the library all day or in my apartment alone. And it is important to understand why that is. Second example. I have a friend who is very much sensing and thinking. When she makes decisions, she doesnt really think about how people will take it or what could happen down the road. I need to understand she isnt being mean or careless. She is looking at the facts and what is happening now. 

Take some time to think about where your energy comes from, how you see the world and what you do with information. And try to see how other people do these things too.