Discussion for Chapter 8:

Recognizing your character traits can be important to better understanding yourself, and
strengthening your relationships with friends, loved ones, and within between the elephant and
the rider. As Martin Seligman explains, improving on our personal strengths as they relate to
character builds positive reinforcements that contribute to our happiness and overall
appreciation for life. With this background, I took the VIA Character Strengths Profile test with
the expectation that I would score highest in the categories of teamwork and understanding,
which I did as my top 5 character traits were in order as Humility, Hope, Teamwork, Kindness
and Judgement. Upon these results, I set out to research what exactly having these results
mean in terms of my actions towards others, and found familiar yet eye-opening answers.
Specifically with humility, I was initially shocked to find out that this character trait “can be a
challenging strength to boost - for many of us it is a ‘lower strength’ and is not something we
often try to deliberately improve” (Niemiec, 2020). I recognize that as humans we tend to think
of our needs more, however I have always seemed to put myself second to others and neglect
my own needs in order to attend to the needs of others, and while I have developed a good
sense of caring for others over the years, I know that there must be a balance between
understanding and a lack of self-care, which is something I will now pay attention to in my
interactions with others.
The next personality test available was the MBTI Personality Test, and with this I got the results
of ISFJ, or Introvert, Sensing, Feeling and Judging. These results were somewhat similar to
those of the VIA Character Strength Test, in the manner that the center of the personality type is
service towards others, and a consequence of having this personality type being “those around
them often take them for granted--even take advantage of them… [and being] notoriously bad at
delegating… [being] pleasant and reliable co-workers and exemplary employees, but tend to be
harried and uncomfortable in supervisory roles” (Butt, Heiss 2020). Noticing the trend behind
caring diligently for others while still maintaining a sense of reservation in guidance and
leadership positions, learning the difference between being characterized as introverted and
having shyness, “the fear of social disapproval while introversion is a preference for
environments that are not overstimulating” (Lomas, 2012) helps to guide me in comprehending
the nature of different traits and identities disguised as similar but completely contrasting each
other. I will now note the validity of being overstimulated and try to avoid such situations that will
lead to an almost shutdown of expression.
Another crucial personality trait I wanted to touch on was of Hope, defined as “Expecting the
best in the future and working to achieve it; believing that a good future is something that can be
brought about” (VIA Institute on Character). During these challenging times, hope can
sometimes be the one thing we rely on to help us continue to work towards our goals, with the
belief that things will return to a better state in the future. As stated by Nicholas Kristoff, “The
sense of opportunity thus is emerging not solely from the wreckage of past policies but also
from new attitudes, particularly among young people” (Kristoff, 2020). I believe that hope will
push us to all persevere towards our goals, as the dreams we set for ourselves can be imagined
with the belief that we can do anything if we work towards a purpose. With this new knowledge
on strength and how important it is to our characters and personalities, I will apply this and
develop my skills and strengths towards working on achieving my goals.