Cryptic title, I know.

Have you ever been in one of those work, class or other settings where people ask you if you’ve done the personality-type-quiz-of-the-most-recent-trend?

“Are you an ESFJ?”  I definitely feel like you’re an extroverted thinker.

“Are you a blue?  I can totally see you as a blue – you’re so caring.”

“Are you a 1?  Or maybe an 8?  I’m torn between the two for you.”

Do you have any idea what those above statements even relate to?  They’re all types of personality quizes that I’ve participated in at one time or another.  I do find them quite entertaining.  And even when some of them don’t seem quite right I generally find that there are elements of each one that make sense for my personality.

For the record, the first one is Myers-Briggs, in which you’re assigned 4 different letters, each one corresponding with a particular bent toward a characteristic.  You’re considered to have all letters, but you lean toward one or the other more strongly.  So you’re either Extroverted (E) in your thinking, or Introverted (I) in your attitude.  You’re either a senser (S) in your thinking, or your intuitive (N) in your function.  You are also either a thinker (T) or feeler (F) in your function.  And last but not least, you’re either judging (J) or perceiving (P) in your lifestyle.

I am ISTJ: introverted, sensing, thinking, judging.

Here’s what an online site has to say about my personality type.  I’d definitely agree that I’m rational and logical, dependable, not comfortable with breaking laws or rules, appreciate fulfilling goals, organized… And I definitely hate failing at tasks, and berate myself when things don’t go the way “they should.”

The second one in that fact convo above is the True Colours test.  You’re assigned one of four different colours based on your personality.  Orange is the extroverted person; Gold is the organized person; Green is the thinker; And blue is the caring person.  It’s a rating system, so you’re ultimately one colour on top and the rest below that.  So you technically have all aspects, but perhaps you lean to two or so colours the most.

I am indeed a gold, through and through.  But I also have traces of green and orange…with blue coming in near the bottom.  Now, to my credit I think I am still a caring person, but my strength is in organizing and details.

The last one is something that has become more popular as of late, which is the Enneagram test.  I only started hearing about this one roughly a year ago.  It seems that people feel it’s the most accurate…but that’s probably because it’s the newest.  Nevertheless, it seems as on par as the rest of the ones I’ve taken.  You’re assigned a number, 1-9 and then you have a secondary number which is the way you lean when you’re stressed.  Without listing them all (because you can read them with the above link), I’ll tell you that I’m a 1 which means that I am a Reformer.

All that being said, I think it’s interesting that as humans we attempt to define ourselves in these boxes.  It’s true, there are certain aspects of our personalities that are perhaps innate and do define who we are; but then there are other aspects that are purely nurtured in us, and sometimes we get obsessed with them and we mentally get stuck in a rut thinking that’s “just how I am.”

We were joking a little while ago that perhaps the way we entered into this world can define much of who we are!  For example, I was born 3 weeks early, and my mother’s doctor was going on holidays because it was the day before Good Friday (Easter weekend).  He was leaving at noon, and he figured I wouldn’t be born before that.  Well, much to his surprise I was born at exactly 12 noon.  But I didn’t make it that easy – I had the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck twice and required some immediate attention in order to breathe.  So I was early, but still did things in my own pace and not someone else’s, and I certainly didn’t make it easy.  Sounds about right!!  :)

Peter, from what I recall being told, was born late, but when he was born he came out in an awful hurry!  He was born within hours and even the doctor didn’t think he’d come out so quickly!  And the best part?  Immdiately upon being born he peed all over the doctor.  I’ll let you decide what that says about him.  :)

In any case, we are who we are, but there are also things about us that we control as well.  There are plenty of negative traits that come along with my personality type according to all those quizzes.  But I don’t just have to accept those for what they are.  I can work to make them less prominent than perhaps they would naturally be.

What personality types have you been assigned?  Did you think they were accurate or not?  What does your birth story say about you?