“Type A” Much?

I am taking a Stress Management class during my last semester at USC, and I wanted to share the journal entries that we write every week. They are extremely cathartic for me and great personal exercises to learn more about yourself and what you would like to work on. All of the questions/prompts will be provided in my entries, so feel free to do these exercises yourself too. You'll be surprised at how well you can enlighten yourself just by freeing your thoughts from your cluttered mind.

February 9^th, 2011

(3) things you like about yourself, and why?

1.        I am a relentlessly hard worker. When I put my mind to something or set a goal, I will achieve it. I am very hard on myself, but this passionate approach to my life and my work has brought me great success and fulfillment.

2.       I am a good mentor and advice-giver. I like to feel like my own personal experiences or general empathy can help people to get through hard times and understand more about the situations they face. It makes me feel like a good friend to help those close to me battle through difficult times.

3.       I am humble. Though this is something I would never come up with on my own, I have been told by many friends and family members that I keep my achievements and my pride to myself. Part of this is because I am such a harsh judge of my own work, and sometimes I do not see the magnitude of my accomplishments. I like knowing that my hard work hasn’t made me seem like a flashy, stuck-up person to others.

(3) things you would like to change/improve about yourself, and why?

1.        I sell myself short. While I am proud of everything I have accomplished, I always seem to feel like it’s never enough or that it is not “that great.” We are all our own worst critics, but I tend to put myself down when I feel like I have done a less-than perfect job or when others don’t recognize what I feel was very hard work. I would like to learn to not be so hard on myself, while still staying humble and working at my full potential.

2.       I can be short-tempered. This is unfortunate, because I am most snippy with the people that matter most to me: close friends and family. Though I am a great advice-giver, I can be harsh when dealing with someone close to me. I find it difficult to be patient when I see someone hurting themselves, acting naïve, or playing the victim. I would like to learn to be a more patient person in all aspects of life and a better listener.

3.       I over-analyze everything. I tend to read into things, whether it be an assignment or a message from a crush, way too much. I exhaust myself trying to think of the perfect response or best way to tackle an assignment. I always go above and beyond what is asked of me, often because I have over-thought what is expected of me. I would like to learn to calm down, to be more comfortable trusting my intuition, and to take things for what they are. There is beauty in the unknown, and not everything necessitates a perfect answer.