I have always had very strong personality traits, so when I was scored as a Gold for my true color and received a ISFJ, I read the descriptions and could not find a single aspect that I did not identify with. My love of lists, structure, routine, and order have always been a large part of my life. This is an example of the running "To-Do List" that I keep everyday.
Now before you all think all I care about is structure, I would like to say that I am also very dedicated to my relationships. I am very close to my family, both immediate and extended. I have a few strong friendships, while I do have acquaintances, who I enjoy and love to see, I very much lean towards the long lasting friendships. I have been really close friends with my current roommate, Anne, for six years. We have lived with one another for two years and were only separated for nine months in the past six years. We have built a very strong friendship through communications and she will be the first to say that I have mother-like tendencies, and have a high level of expectations for my friends because I hope they hold the same expectations for me. Here is a picture of her and I just so you all can see how much we are obsessed with one another (she loves me, I promise I don't force her to hangout with me).
Another important aspect is my interest in my family history. I am always interested in hearing what my family history is. I have recored my grandparent's stories, and have constantly inquired about my heritage (predominantly russian and eastern european).When my grandmother passed away in June, I was comforted by the stories people told about her and the pictures she left me.
Here is my grandmother at the age of 16, she is a ham.
When I told Anne about the characteristics of a Gold and a an ISFJ she laughed and said, "God that's so you, lame but fun at the same time". While her summary of my characteristics is a bit crass, I like to think that having the knowledge of my strong and weak character traits gives me the ability to better self-reflect and lead. Knowing my pet-peeves and how others might perceive my characteristics is helpful because I can now see how and why some people might get frustrated with me or I with them. I just have to keep in mind that I can and sometimes will have to adjust everyday, and that does not seem so bad if you ask me!
I also happen to be an ISFJ on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality assessment, however, I am a blue on the True Colors personality assessment, but gold was a very close second for me, so I am not surprised that you are an ISFJ and a gold. Like you, I have a few strong friendships and several acquaintances, and I hold myself and my friends to high standards. Family is extremely important to me, just as it is for you. One commonality between both of us that I found really striking is how our grandparents would tell us lots of stories about their lives. I have a grandmother and a grandfather, who passed away in October 2007 and April 2012, respectively. They would always tell my sister and me stories about their childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. My grandmother had several brothers and sisters, so she would always tell me all about them, and I really enjoyed that because most of them I have never met. My grandfather is a World War II veteran, so he also told me stories about that experience, but I think it is interesting to note that he only ever talked about the good things or the funny things that happened to him; he never wanted to talk about the horrific aspects of the war because it was too difficult for him to recall and discuss those events. Like you, I enjoyed learning about my family's history from grandparents. Although I never recorded anything that they told me, I still have the remembrance cards that were given to those who came to my grandmother and grandfather's funerals. They both feature a collage of photos of each of them. I keep it in my room, and I sometimes like to look at them and reminisce about the good times I had when they were alive. It still brings me to tears.
ReplyDeleteLet me start by saying that I basically love your whole blog profile, very creative and fun, I actually thought you would be an orange when I saw it, but hey I was pleasantly surprised. But now about the ^ blog. I love my golds, even though I'm an orange because I know that I always need a little bit of structure in my life and golds tend to be those people you can always count on being there for you when you need them. I know as golds and oranges we are suppose to hate each other, but I mean someone has to keep me under control! It's very cool that you're interested in your family heritage, I think that exploring how different cultures mix and interact in families and friendships is really interesting!
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