(focusing on Meyers-Briggs, but I feel this way about them all)
I used to think they were fun. Figuring myself out. A puzzle. I know they are meant to be more than just something fun to take. I know they are supposed to give you a hint of why you are the way you are, show you why you might lean towards certain tendencies. I know – everyone knows- your personality is not necessarily going to stay the same all the time. I think the Meyers-Briggs people know that too. So I know that test is not a once and for all thing.
But I do not like them. I do not like being pegged. I like to think I am more dynamic than four letters. My name has eighteen; at least let me have that many. My Meyers-Briggs test says I am extroverted. A lot of people question that. I think it is because I am quiet. It’s true, I am. I also write a lot, and I love to read. Those are mostly solitary activities. I need my alone time to think and process and write. But too much alone time, and I get incredibly lonely. Given the choice, mostly, I would choose to be with people. Just because I don’t talk a whole lot, doesn’t mean I don’t like being with people. (And I do talk, when I have something to say.) But yes, sometimes I do like being alone.
And though my letters generally fit me, I don’t want to box myself into four letters. I refuse. Jesus gives me a way cooler, more fitting identity.
People are forever trying to fit into identities. Personality tests, astrological signs, labels, cliques.
I am so much more than four letters.
“Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” –Walt Whitman
Me too! I like doing solitary things, but can get lonely. :/
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