Today's post covers the last 3 mirrors that I looked into from the book Running The Edge by Tim Catalano & Adam Goucher. These 3 mirrors are Adaptability, Integrity, and Person-ability. I found these 3 kind of hard to look into but I did it. You can check out the first 3 mirrors in this blog post.
Just a reminder, I had to score myself for running and for each of the five life stories. I had to rate yourself on a scale from 0 to 10. Zero being a "reactor" (passive, a puppet) or a "distance maven" (an actor, a doer, the puppeteer).
Adaptability
The first mirror is adaptability. They list these traits for this mirror:
Flexibility
Open-Mindedness
Versatile
Compromising
Accommodating
This is how I rated myself in each area:
Running - 6
Education - 6
Family - 8
Friends - 7
Career - 6
Passions - 6
I think the only area I'm truly adaptable in is Family & Friends. I have no problem re-arranging my schedule for the people I care about. And changing what I need to for them. The other areas, not so much. I've mentioned a few times that I'm a creature of habit and that pretty much covers running, my career, and passions. I have a routine and I stick to it. Even the way I load the programs on my computer at work! Yes, I'm that bad. But...I have been working on this already so I'm not as bad as I used to be. I do think I am flexible in that I'll move a workout if I need to or use a work around at work. Still, there's room for improvement in this area.
Integrity
The next mirror is integrity and these are the traits they list for it
Authenticity
Genuine
Sincere
Trustworthy
Fair
And this is how I rated each area for this mirror:
Running - 7
Education - 5
Family - 7
Friends - 7
Career - 6
Passions - 6
This was another hard one for me. It's not that I lie to people about any of these areas. The hard part was determining whether or not I've been honest with myself about where I am in each of these areas. Sometimes, you go along thinking you're doing a great job and totally oblivious to what other people really think. What I have a hard time with is knowing for sure that what I think I'm doing is really what I'm doing. For example, I think I have great endurance. But do I really? I'm a total newb to the endurance world so maybe I don't really. Is running 4 marathons enough of a test? And I also think I have potential to get faster. But how much faster I don't know. I haven't figured out at what point I resign myself to "this is as good as it gets".
I also know that I haven't been completely true to myself in the areas of my career and education. My job is one that I fell into, not one that I chose. Don't get me wrong, it's a good job. I'm a numbers geek and I work in Accounting so it seems right. I long for something different. Something with meaning where I can make a difference. But the money is good and I get 4 weeks of personal time a year and that lets me travel and race and it's hard to give up, you know? So I sometimes feel like I sold out. Sigh. It's hard being a grown up.
Person-ability
The last mirror for today is person-ability and these are it's traits:
Friendliness
Kindness
Consideration
Sense of humor
Perceptive
And this is how I scored myself for this mirror:
Running - 7
Education - 7
Family - 8
Friends - 6
Career - 5
Passions - 8
This mirror wasn't too bad. I think I've improved a lot here from the shy, introverted girl I used to be. I've worked really hard to nourish my family relationships, especially my mom. I need to work on that with my dad now. We never butted heads like my mom & I but we aren't close. I'm hoping the road trip we are taking together next month will be a big step toward that.
I think I'm doing okay with this in the running world as well. I try to be a part of the community on Twitter but I'm not sure if my sense of humor comes across very well! ;) But I'm trying to be supportive and helpful and give back to the community that has given me so much.
The two areas that I know I need to work on our Friends and Career and this one will be hard. You see, I used to be a Yes Girl. I never said no to anything that anyone asked of me and I eventually got to a point where I felt like a door mat for some friends who took advantage of that and some coworkers as well. So I became a No Girl and I became very, very good at standing up for myself and anyone else I felt was being used or abused. I know a lot of people didn't/don't like that because I didn't bother to finesse it. I just said what I felt and if they didn't like it, too bad! I know that I need to work on doing that better.
So that's the six mirrors. It's been interesting to say the least. Was I too easy on myself? Too hard? Just right? At least it's given me a starting point to what I want/need to work on. It will be interesting to see how they have me put this information to use.
But before I get to that, I'll be posting a give-away on my blog on Friday. It's about a topic close to my heart and one I try to live by. There will actually be 2 giveaways! So check back on Friday for the details. See you then!
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