Last week I was able to shadow an Insights workshop that John and Theron did for YRichmond. Shadowing quickly turned into participating as wefocused in on self-awareness and self-discovery.
One particularly enlightening activity for me explored our tendencies towards introversion or extroversion.
We started the activity in a straight line.
John read a statement. If you agreed with the statement, you took one step to the right. Theron read another statement. If you agreed with that statement, you took one step to the left.
I stepped left.
I stepped right.
I stepped left.
I stepped right.
By the end of the activity, I discovered that the rest of the group was spread out across the room, and I was exactly where I started.
Turns out the statements John read represented more introverted tendencies and the ones Theron read represented extroverted tendencies.
Apparently my personality is a bit confused. Or balanced. For every introverted tendency I identified with, I identified with a extroverted one as well.
At the end of the evening, John challenged us to think of self-awareness as a call to stretch, as an invitation not to be constrained where you are. I realized that maybe it’s not that I can’t decide who I am. Maybe I’ve adapted, stretched, grown, and changed over my life.
Whether you step left or step right, your natural inclination to be one way or the other doesn’t mean that it’s the only place in the room you have to live.