I Get That A Lot

"You're very quiet."

"You don't say much."

"Hardly a peep out of you."

"You're pretty quiet."

"Are you always this quiet?"

"I bet you're not this shy/quiet at home!"

Once upon a time if you would have asked me what character trait I liked least about myself I wouldn't have hesitated even a second before answering that I wish I was more outgoing. I would have loved to be that person who thrived on everyone paying attention to them, who flawlessly filled awkward silences with small talk and ensure everyone around them is comfortable and at ease. 

But that isn't me. 

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Over the past few months instead of awkwardly and frantically searching for a response to the above comments I've started to respond "I get that a lot." or "Yes, I am.". Because I've come to realize and accept that being quiet isn't a bad thing. I know some people consider "quiet" to be a negative adjective, and up until very recently that mentality was fully engrained in me as well. I'm not sure when the light bulb moment went off and I realized that "quiet" isn't bad. It is perfectly okay not to be the loudest person in the room. 

As it turns out I like not being the loudest person in the room. Sure I can carry on a conversation and enjoy talking to people but I don't need everyone to know who I am. It's a huge relief not to be constantly pressuring myself to "not be the quiet one" and trying to be someone I'm not. 

The lesson in all this is short and simple - embrace your 'flaws' and don't try to mould yourself into something you aren't.

ISFJ

I know that there are people out there who think "Personality Types" is a bunch of bologna. Everyone is a little bit of everything depending on the circumstances. It may be true that some people are a little bit of everything sometimes, but not me. I'm an ISFJ through & through. 

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I relate to being an introvert. I love my friends and really value continuing family traditions but at the end of the day I need alone time. I need to be able to sit alone with my thoughts, doodle in my sketch book and put the day into words in a notebook. If I go too long feeling like I need to be around people I start to feel really overwhelmed, which leads to anxiety and we all know that's a bad scene. I appreciate when people recognize my hand work, but I don't like to be made the centre of attention, which explains my love of warm fuzzies. I'm pretty observant when it comes to how other people are feeling but I don't always let on that I know what's going on with someone because I figure if they wanted to talk to me about it they would. Along the same lines of being observant when it comes to people, I have a really good memory for little details about people. Favourite colours, songs, movies, names of first grade teachers, if you mention it to me once the odds are pretty good that I'll remember. And if I ever have to buy you a present you better believe that I'll use one of those details to craft some sort of thoughtful and personal gift. 

I'm a total rule follower, even if I don't necessarily agree with them. I read somewhere that ISFJs value lists and organization so much because it helps them make sense of all the information they store in their head. I love to-do lists and colour-coded organizational systems but my systems don't always make sense for other people. The way I group things together is rarely logical to anyone other than myself. 

When I believe in something or someone or get involved with something I stick with it, even when it may be best to walk away. That all circles around the responsibility, patient, devoted, dependable, loyal and honouring commitment traits. 

Overall I think it's a pretty good personality to have, there are a lot of downsides to being so attentive and sensitive and introverted but everyday I figure out more ways to use my strengths to my advantage and overcome the hard parts!

What's your personality type? Head over to Brave Love and link up with Bailey Jean to share yours!

Back on the Blogging Wagon!

Remember that time last week when I committed to blogging (almost) every day in September? 

Yeah, me too.

And then my laptop decided to go haywire making it impossible to do anything even remotely productive. The good news it seems to be fixed now and I am ready to hop back on the blogging wagon!

The Blogtember Challenge for the day is to take this Personality Test...

Which tells me I am INFJ. It seems pretty accurate, apparently I excel in careers with intellectual work, caring for people and creativity. Working at camp and with youth definitely requires a lot of caring and creativity! Famous INFJs include Mother Theresa and Jerry Seinfeld so I am in good company!

I'm also linking up with Sami to tell you about my weekend...

Friday I was up at 6:45 to babysit my cousins and help get them ready and on the bus for the second day of school! I came home around 8:30 and spent the day unpacking from camp and getting my life organized. I managed to fill a laundry basket of clothes to donate and get everything from camp put away where it belongs. Friday evening I went for a walk, came home and watched some TV and went to bed. Saturday I went to a new park that opened about 20 minutes from my house and did the walking trail there. The park isn't quite finished yet, but it was still nice to check it out. Afterwards I went for groceries, came home and made delicious guacamole which I ate while sorting through pictures from the summer. Even after weeding out the not-so-great pictures and just picking my favourites I still ended up with over 300 prints.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day watching Breaking Bad. I am both proud and ashamed to disclose I watched the entire first season yesterday. Such a good show! And really wasn't expecting to like it, but the first 5 seasons are on Netflix and one of my best friends recommended I watch, so I started and now can't stop! 

Not a very exciting weekend but I enjoyed it! This week I'm looking forward to actually participating in the Blogtember posts plus blogging about some craft projects I have in the works!