What Describes Me?

I cleaned up my laundry room today, can you believe it? I really should take a picture of it all clean. It looks really good. During the cleaning process, I sorted through some storage bins in the room and came across some school stuff from a few years ago when I was finishing up my degree. In particular course work from a class I took called Small Group Communication which was part of my communications minor. I think it was about day two or three of the class and the professor had us do an in class group exercise. He gave us each a page of label stickers with a bunch of different words on them. We were to walk about the room and stick words on the backs of our classmates that we thought described them. We had only been in class for a couple days and had only done one other group exercise and gone around the room and introduced ourselves, so these words were basically first impressions of people. I found the paper that had all the words that were stuck on my back and to this day I am still intrigued by the words. I remember thinking that most of the words were pretty good descriptions of me. When I was handed the notebook paper with the words from my back they read:

good listener, secretive, intellectual, secretive, good listener, trustworthy, mysterious, and creative.

I feel as though I am intellectual, trustworthy, and a good listener. I didn't think I had much of a creative side, but I'm finding out that I am more creative then I ever thought I was. I understand why secretive and mysterious showed up on my back. I have a hard time opening up to new people. When I first meet people I am very reserved and guarded of my feelings. It takes a little while for me to open up and even then I still don't always completely open myself up. I think I get it from my parents who are VERY private people. They don't like to talk about their business with anyone not even family really. It is something that I'd like to improve on. I'd like to be more open and less "secretive and mysterious".

I signed up for an online scrapbooking class called "Scrap Yourself" and to get prepared for the class the teacher asked us to think of 3-5 people and then 2 words that those people would use to describe you. Then which words you most agree with and which you least agree with. What I'd like to change, and what I'd embrace and take further.

When I came across this paper from my communications class it reminded me of this assignment from the scrapbooking class and although it doesn't fit completely, it works.

I wonder if I asked some of friends and family today what words they'd use to describe would I find words my classmates chose in the list?