Another Question answer:
Feb. 17th, 2006 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moominmuppetWhat things did you consider valuable about yourself when you were a kid? What things do you consider valuable about yourself now?
As a child, my intelligence (I was arrogant about it), my strength (in a tomboy machismo sort of way), my ability to interact well with animals (and especially that I didn't have "girly" reactions to any of them -- see "tomboy, identity as"), and my ability to read aloud publicly (primarily in church).
Argh -- I'm off work in 12 minutes, so I'm coming back to this tomorrow to finish...
edit:
OK, back again.
Anyway, as far as changes to the above, now that I'm an adult...
Sometime during college I actually became more interested in people than in animals (by a slim margin), and got much more involved in activism and social justice and such. As a result, I now have a greater appreciation for my ability to interact with people relatively well than for my ability to interact with animals relatively well.
As far as my strength being all tied up in my self-identity; I went through a nasty, painful adjustment on that one with the fibromyalgia problems and diagnosis. I still value it about myself, but I'm very aware of my limitations, and can't (and mostly don't want to) do the macho thing anymore. As a kid I was a "protector" -- I'd take on the bullies who were picking on other kids. As an adult, I'm more of a educator, and place much higher value on that (and its ability to help people protect themselves instead) Now I value my life experiences substantially more, too (which makes sense; I didn't have very many back then).
As for intellect; I still value that very highly, but I'm much more aware that it's not something I can 'take credit' for; it's just a nice and very handy thing that happened to me.
And as for reading aloud, well, that hasn't really changed. I tend to get compliments on my speaking voice, and it's something I'm confident about and enjoy doing (although I'm no longer religious, so it's not so much with the bible passages anymore).
As a child, my intelligence (I was arrogant about it), my strength (in a tomboy machismo sort of way), my ability to interact well with animals (and especially that I didn't have "girly" reactions to any of them -- see "tomboy, identity as"), and my ability to read aloud publicly (primarily in church).
Argh -- I'm off work in 12 minutes, so I'm coming back to this tomorrow to finish...
edit:
OK, back again.
Anyway, as far as changes to the above, now that I'm an adult...
Sometime during college I actually became more interested in people than in animals (by a slim margin), and got much more involved in activism and social justice and such. As a result, I now have a greater appreciation for my ability to interact with people relatively well than for my ability to interact with animals relatively well.
As far as my strength being all tied up in my self-identity; I went through a nasty, painful adjustment on that one with the fibromyalgia problems and diagnosis. I still value it about myself, but I'm very aware of my limitations, and can't (and mostly don't want to) do the macho thing anymore. As a kid I was a "protector" -- I'd take on the bullies who were picking on other kids. As an adult, I'm more of a educator, and place much higher value on that (and its ability to help people protect themselves instead) Now I value my life experiences substantially more, too (which makes sense; I didn't have very many back then).
As for intellect; I still value that very highly, but I'm much more aware that it's not something I can 'take credit' for; it's just a nice and very handy thing that happened to me.
And as for reading aloud, well, that hasn't really changed. I tend to get compliments on my speaking voice, and it's something I'm confident about and enjoy doing (although I'm no longer religious, so it's not so much with the bible passages anymore).
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no subject
Date: 2006-02-16 11:21 pm (UTC)hi, childhood best friend i met too late?! or maybe we would have been put off and wanted to compete with each other? But I had many friends I was a little competitive with, no harm done, I think.
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Date: 2006-02-17 02:36 pm (UTC)*grin* Yeah, I think we would've gotten along quite well, actually.
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Date: 2006-02-17 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-17 06:12 pm (UTC)