Chatacter Strengths

Character Strengths and Weaknesses Life is an endless learning experience. One of the most important lessons we can ever learn from comes from within. As we go through life, it is important that we learn who we are, and have the ability to identify and grow from our own personal strength and weaknesses. I know that by acknowledging what I am good at and what I am weak in is the only way I can truly grow as an individual. This knowledge will help to achieve the goals that I have set for myself in life. Through taking this personal inventory of my strength and weaknesses, I have determined what I need to do not only to better understand who I am, but how to improve my life. In order to assess my strength, the skill audits assessment has shown me where I can play to my strengths and bring in others to fill my weaknesses. According to the VIA Character Strengths Survey, my top five strengths were identified as kindness, creativity, honesty, perspective, and forgiveness, which I believe are quite accurate qualities to describe my strengths. My top character strength being kindness seems fitting. Peterson defines as “doing favors and good deeds for others; helping them; taking care of them” (Peterson 143), which many would agree accurately describes me. I am really in-tune and I easily pick up other people’s emotions, especially pain, and I always will try my best to figure out a way to make their situation easier to get through. I’m also a very empathetic person, where I am able to put myself in someone else’s shoes and can see things from their perspective. I will drop anything and everything I’m doing if I notice someone needs help, even if it means going out of my way to do so. I make these kind gestures for people, not because I think that I “have” to or that I’m obligated to, but because I know that my efforts would be beneficial and have a 2 positive impact on someone. Also, helping others just makes me feel good and makes me feel accomplished. Even though my top strength is beneficial to myself and others in many ways, having kindness and compassion for others can have drawbacks as well. Since many people throughout my life have been aware that I go out of my way for others, people would often times take advantage of me. Sometimes it has led me to not prioritize my own well-being and goals, which ultimately leads to burnout and frustration. My friends would always tell me to stop being a push over all the time and I know they are right. For example, last semester, I met a girl in my class who was just entering college. She seemed like she wanted to be my friend and I would always help her when she was struggling with her schoolwork. My idea of helping her was to explain assignments more in-depth so she would understand the questions better. After a while, she would try getting me to give her the answers or get me to do the assignment for her. I never would give in to doing that, especially considering I had my own schoolwork to focus on. After the semester was over, I realized she didn’t really want to be friends and she was just using me to get “help”. From experiences like this, I learned I need to start setting boundaries with people and to be kind to myself too by not putting myself last all the time. My next top character strength according to the survey is creativity, which is the ability to perceive the world in new ways, making connections and producing solutions. I agree that creativity is one of my top strengths. Not only am I artistic, but I am also am very flexible and open with my thoughts, opinions and in the decisions that I make on a daily basis. Being openminded naturally encourages me to think “outside the box”, which I believe can expand my possibilities and opportunities. I also believe that life is a process of constant and never-ending experience of learning and self-improvement. I am aware that the more that I learn new things, 3 the better I will be able to think of solutions to problems that I may encounter in the future. As a result, I am constantly and persistently asking questions that are focused on expanding my knowledge of reality and on solutions that will help me overcome the problems that I face throughout my daily life. My perspective and opinion about my own creativity has evolved over the years. It took learning to push aside the creative fear of rejection or failure and recognizing the deep sense of fulfillment creativity brings me and learning to trust my creative instincts. But mostly, it developed through practice because the more I engage in creative activities, the more creative I become. And the more creative I become, the more connected I feel to myself and the world. Even though being creative is who I am and can be beneficial to my life, it can also be considered a weakness in certain situations. For example, being a creative thinker as a student, I often have displayed characteristics that some teachers simply do not like. Being a creative thinker, I often make judgments and evaluate situations for myself, which means that I often do not do exactly what I am told or follow directions exactly how I’m expected to. My responses are naturally based on my own internal beliefs, opinions and/or desires. When I am asked to answer questions based off of the readings from a textbook, I tend to have a hard time not incorporating my personal opinions or experiences into my answer, which makes it more difficult for me. My third character strength according to the survey is honesty, which is yet another accurate judgement of my character. Honesty is part of the foundation of my core values and principles and it is the trait that I value the most in all of my relationships. If a person is not honest with me, I can no longer trust them. With this being said, I am always as transparent as I can possibly be because that is what I expect out of others. Honesty is not just about telling the truth. It’s about being real with myself and others about who I am, what I want and what I 4 believe I need to live an authentic life. Honesty promotes openness, empowers and enables me to develop consistency in how I present the facts. Honesty is a powerful quality to have, however, it can be used for both good or evil. By this, I mean that it can be used to build others up or it can be used to tear others down. This is why I tend to use my words to genuinely build others up, not tear them down. The same truth spoken in a different way, with a different motivation, can have completely different results. If someone were to ask me for my thoughts and opinions on something that I feel could be improved, instead of blatantly criticizing them, I prefer using constructive criticism, which I believe is a better way of expressing my thoughts in a genuine and positive way. Being an honest person has its weaknesses as well. For example, I tend feel annoyed and frustrated when others aren’t as honest with me. When I live my life from the standpoint of total honesty, it’s natural that I would expect others to live the same way. However, in most cases it leads me to be disappointed because most people will automatically adhere to the social norms of telling white lies instead of sharing their true opinions. It gives me a lot of trust issues and I have a hard time accepting when people don’t give me the same respect of honesty that I give them. The fourth of my top character strengths according to the survey is having perspective. The people in my life tend to value my perspective on situations and will typically turn to me for advice. I have a way of looking at the world that makes sense to others and to myself. The next character strength according to the survey is having perspective, which I believe to be true. When I’m trying to understand other people, it helps to try to put myself in their shoes. Before I say something, I try to think about how I would feel of react if I were in that person's position. I don’t like to judge or give advice to people until I think about their point of view. When I see other’s point of view, it allows me to be more empathetic with their 5 circumstances. I believe that sometimes, the best solution is right in front of us, but we are too close to see it. I am able to remove myself from my own current situation and observe it from multiple perspectives with an open mind. Although I’m good at giving others advice by looking at it from their point of view, sometimes I have trouble doing the same for myself, which I could consider as a weakness to work on. My fifth character strength on the list is forgiveness, which is “forgiving those who have done wrong; accepting others’ shortcomings; giving people a second chance; not being vengeful”. Forgiveness is not a feeling, and it does not take away or excuse what others have done. Forgiveness is the ability of recognizing the problem and all the pain and hurt that comes with it—and then choosing to let go of any bitterness, anger, and desire for revenge so you can move on with life. Forgiveness is not always easy and sometimes it is a long process to work through the situation, rebuild trust, and restore a relationship. Sometimes, the relationship can’t be fixed and things are never the same. I feel like even in this case, the act of forgiveness clears my mind so that I am able to work through the process and make the most of the future without holding on to the past. This would also be considered as one of my weaknesses as well because sometimes I forgive people too easily and make them think that it’s okay to hurt me again in the future. Even when I know a relationship shouldn’t be forgiven so easily, I always seem to let it slide which is basically allowing people to walk all over me. This is another weakness that needs to be According to the VIA Institute on Character, knowing your character strengths isn’t just interesting information to have; it can have a positive impact on my overall life. It is believed that understanding your strengths can help me: Manage and overcome problems, improve my personal and professional relationships and enhance my overall sense of well-being. Peterson 6 suggests that, “The critical ingredient is using the strength in a new way” (Peterson 159). In order to grow as a person, I have learned that I can use my signature strengths to enhance my everyday life. To do so, I need to start thinking about how I can use my strengths in a new way. In school, for example, I could choose to emphasize certain strengths over others. Also, I could vary the ways that I use each strength in my personal life and my work life. Now that I have identified my strengths, I can use them to to help overcome my weaknesses.