Essay - Personality - NL - 9

Personality

By; Naomi Lea

Every year I like to take the Myers-Briggs personality test, just to see if anything has changed. I’m usually an ENFP; Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving. I usually either switch between the P and the J for the last letter, but the other three usually stay the same. I have changed a great deal since high school. I know I would have scored a more Introverted personality type back then, but now I know I am certainly Extroverted. I get my energy from being around people. When I am sad or depressed, I usually want a hug or someone to talk to. When I stay alone, I become somber and dissident. When I’m finally around people after long lengths of time alone in my room, it’s like instant relief! I feel my energy levels rise and energy juice is being pumped into my system.

I like to take these personality tests because they help me to reflect and truly gauge how I would react in certain situations. The test gives different scenarios dichotomizing various traits such as prioritizing open schedules or to-do lists, carefully planning or improvising, preferring social events or staying in, etc. The test even gave advice on how to proceed in life based on this personality type with relationships, friends, careers, and other areas, but I must say now that these tests should always be taken with caution. Many of these test takers tend to take these personality types as unbreakable molds which people fit into. Unfortunately, that is not how things work depending on your world view.

Just as mentioned before, my personality changed after high school. There was a pivotal incident which changed my life forever, and that was the decision to fully commit myself to Jesus Christ. Though there were times after that incident when I fell away and did not live according to how a Christian should live, I was forever changed from that time on. I became a new person. Instead of someone living in sin unawares, I had the discernment to identify what was right and wrong. Though I often chose the wrong thing, I was not ignorant of the morality or lack thereof of my choices.  

This change that I experienced in high school allowed my true personality to surface and thus be captured in the results of my test. I remember Out of all that were listed, Curious, Observant, and Energetic/Enthusiastic resounded the most. These are the traits that stuck with me since childhood, even though they have been expressed differently in the various stages of my life. I love learning new things. I remember when Netflix was still a DVD delivery service and we would have new movies in the mailbox every week. Not only would I watch the feature film multiple times, but I would also watch all the special features, look up all the cast members on imdb.com, and sometimes develop obsessions with my favorite films and actors. That curiosity grew into a handy tool when doing research. As an English major in college, I enjoyed the research projects more than creative writing. I liked making connections among things that already existed more than making up points and their connections.

Maybe I like to watch people and events pan out more than come up with such things from my mind. It’s not that I like to people watch, but I like to find details and the meaning behind them. I tend to notice an article of jewelry or sock color before I even look at someone’s face. Perhaps that’s just my personal quirk, but I think that the smallest things sometimes hold the deepest importance. My constant quest for meaning sometimes makes me seems a little odd. I like to fabricate my own metaphors and they do not always hit the mark when I try to explain them to others. I would excitedly try to convey my new connection I discovered in my research or in my own philosophical musings and they often responded with quizzical or blank countenances. However, the excitement never died out and even today, I still get very excited about anything that piques my interest. Now that I am a teacher, I have an open outlet to release my enthusiasm for learning, making connections from text to real life, and using the skills of observation.

These are my favorite personality traits that I embody, but I never would have noticed I possessed them if I had not taken the time for personal reflection. As a Christian, I know that these traits did not naturally spring up and develop in me, but were given to me as gifts by my Holy Father who made me. That might sound a mushy and illogical, but I believe it is the truth. Nowadays the truth, just like our personalities, seem to be blurred or be split into variations. It is not definitively “good” to do something because as soon as someone says that something is “good”, the argument is no longer on the something but the definition of “good” itself! I used to think it was more intelligent to keep questioning the question instead of searching for the answer, but now that the Lord has allowed certain parts of my personality to grow, I cannot keep stalling the truth. Personality and its traits are gifts from our Creator who knows every minute thing there is to know about each of us. I can choose to believe that, or I can keep believing that personality is this weird inner goop that will remain so unless we adopt an analytical lens; a worldview which defines the questions so we can focus on pursuing the truth.

This Myers-Briggs is often mistaken as a personality sorter, putting people into unchangeable groups without deviation. In my opinion, it is nothing more than a tool we can use to better examine ourselves and the gifts God gave us. I know He has a plan for my curiosity, observance, and enthusiasm. It is through personality and the myriads of different ones that barely being to shadow what God is like; a being so vast that he could create all the individual people and their personalities. My hope and prayer for us all is to know that God made us all with a purpose and a personality to fulfil that purpose. I am still learning it myself, but I know I am not alone in that pursuit. Regardless of the test scores, everyone makes up a part of God’s image and His personality.