My Life According to BuzzFeed and Identity

I've always enjoyed self-assessments, or tools and resources that give us a common language to raise understanding of ourselves and others. In college/STLF we used them to better work in teams and understand our differences, valuing the individual contributions of our team/core members. StrengthsFinder, Myers Briggs, True Colors, Love Languages, Leadership Compass...etc. They all (for the most part) have legitimate research and psychology base.

BuzzFeed has recently come out with a whole collection of quizzes lately that give you insight to your personality. The questions are seemingly unrelated, but the outcomes seem to be directionally correct. This is puzzling to me. In any case, according to BuzzFeed I: 

• should have been a Writer.
• would be Norway if I was a European country.
• ideally live in Wisconsin.
• am most similar to Hilary Clinton Amy Poehler of all her roles/characters.
• my major should have been Environmental Scientist.
• am Rachel of all the Friends characters.
• am Robin Scherbatzky on How I Met Your Mother.
• should have a drink with Jennifer Lawrence.
• am Mr. Feeny of Boy Meets World characters (description below).

"It’s the little things in life that you appreciate. You’re extremely important to some people, and what you have to say really resonates with them. Do good. People won’t forget you."

I wish I would have saved all the results descriptions - not that you ever fit perfectly in the descriptions, but each one had something that resonated. Except the Rachel one...that was only about hair. Weird. They all were a little random, but fun to read, and mostly accurate.

It's important to be self aware and have an identity. While I would very much like to drink with Jennifer Lawrence and I've long said Robin Scherbatzky is my TV Show equivalent, I had to think more about identity lately as I was featured on our Global Shapers Minneapolis Hub blog. The previous posts had 3 identity statements as a title, and I followed the trend.

After struggling to figure out my "thing" earlier, I came up with the following:

• Leadership Nerd - I read leadership books for fun, STLF was my first chosen community (outside those given to me at birth and proximity), and I've always been a proud nerd.
• Community Lover - While I've learned to love living alone, I thrive in community - both in groups, but best as a partner. I regularly look for ways to contribute to community and love people in my life.
• Life Adventurer - We live in a great big world, and I look forward to exploring it. Each day. Whether it's a new coffee shop, taking a really long walk, or traveling across the world... I find ways to break up routine. I cringe when things feel comfortable and status quo.

It's not a perfect definition yet, and will probably change in the near future. But hooray for self awareness and intentional reflection on where I'm at and where I'm going.