10 Things I Like About Me

Right.

This whole thing started when my friend Kat (who is a real natural talent at drawing and writing) challenged me to write a list of things that I like about myself. No, scratch that. This whole thing started when I asked her if she could make a list of things she liked about herself as easily as she could list down the things she disliked about herself. She then responded with a challenge, to which I responded internally with "oh no. crap."

So that is the story of the 10 Things I Like About Me challenge. It's a little weird for me to be doing this but my friends Jaja and Gene already posted theirs so I'm feeling the pressure. Anyway, no more stalling. Here is my list of things that I like about myself.

I see things in a different way. 

Over the years I've learned to look at things from different perspectives as a way to rationalize my way through my emotions or thoughts. I suppose it's also a way for me to understand where a person is coming from emotionally or mentally. It's something that might have been natural with me, but it definitely developed as I grew up. 

I love beautiful things.
I like art. Even though I am completely without any artistic talents, I love to look and appreciate art. Take me to a big ass Acacia tree with branches that reach out to the clouds and I'd love it. Show me an artistic talent that you can do and I'd admire you. I love beautiful things and I see beauty everywhere.

Most of the time, if we talk, I'll find something interesting about you.

Even though I am not the most social of creatures, and I hardly make the first move to socialize in a party, I am a pretty okay conversationalist. I listen well and I try my best to know more about what interests a person regardless of whether or not I have anything to contribute. In my mind, that's just another opportunity to learn something new. 

I'm ways away from who I was.
I like that I learned a lot of things about myself the past few years. Knowing those things have made me more sensitive and understanding as compared to the past. Also, in the process of growing up I learned how to give more importance to some things and less importance to other things. 

I am pragmatically competent.

Stealing this from Gene. I have a mental radar that goes off when things are off (or on) between people. I'll attribute this to all those lessons on stylistics, semantics and pragmatics.

I want to see the world.
I have a list of countries that I would love to to go to and I watch travel shows regularly. Everytime I watch a movie that features a country, I imagine myself being there and soaking up the culture, the activities, the food, and the people. I want to see the world and come back home with a bag full of stories.

I like learning new things.
Not necessarily academic things, mind you. I am a student of life and I like that I am able to learn about different things from experience and from different people. Years ago, someone taught me to fly a kite. In college, I learned how to skin dive. One summer, I took a jazz dance class just because. To be honest, I haven't learned a lot compared to other, more adventurous people, but I have a list of things that I'd like to try and learn (even if it's just in theory). 

I am trustworthy.
If you tell me not to tell anyone your secret, I literally won't tell anyone. That's the Isa guarantee. Unless, of course, not spilling the beans could prove harmful to you and/or other people. Thankfully that hasn't happened yet.

I am musically inclined.
I love that I am able to lose myself in a good song. I like to sing and I'd love to be able to master an instrument enough that I can play a good number of songs at a drop of a hat. Right now I'm working to be a ukulele player (after more than 5 years of owning one!).

I grew up away from the city.
I like that I grew up where I grew up. My dad told me that when he and my mom were starting a family they made a conscious choice to live in a province instead of in the city. I don't really know why they did that but I appreciate it because I got to grow up among trees and fresh air instead of concrete buildings and smoke. I think that growing up away from the city also molded me in so many different ways. I can't imagine how I'd be if I grew up as a city girl.

There you go! It took me a long time to get this done (a fact that might actually say more about me than this whole list) but I did it!

Whoever you are reading this blog post, I challenge you to do this list as well. It was tough but it's a good exercise that we can all do from time to time to remind ourselves that we don't always suck. :) Sometimes we need a little reminding, most especially from ourselves.