Video transcript:
Hi Everyone! This is Day 13 of my video series, 20 Days, 20 Quizzes, where I count down the 20 reasons why my book, All About You: A Personality Quiz Book will make a great gift for your loved ones this holiday season! This book is aimed at preteens and teenagers, but adults can also enjoy it. Click on the link in the description below to purchase!
The thirteenth quiz in the book is about how symbolic you are. Being symbolic means taking actions based on what those actions represent to you, which is sometimes different than the literal effect of the actions. For example, do you enjoy wearing the bracelet your friend made for you all the time, because it’s a symbol of your friendship? Or is it not as important how often you wear it because you already know that you’re friends? If someone wrote you a mean note that upset you, would you tear into pieces before throwing it away? Or would it not matter how you got rid of the note, as long as you did? Understanding this quality about ourselves will help us to meet our needs and respect other people’s needs.
When I’ve tried to make changes in my life, it was essential for me to look at what my behaviors symbolized to me and what meanings I had assigned to them. One time years ago, I had dragged myself to an event that I knew I was going to hate, it was way outside my boundaries of things I’m willing to do, but I did it anyway, and it was awful. At some point during this event, I smelled something really bad, and realized that someone was rubbing apple cider vinegar onto their skin as an herbal remedy. After that, I made a rule that no one was allowed to bring apple cider vinegar into my apartment because it smelled so bad. Then a year later, I got a fruit fly infestation, and I read online that the best way to get rid of them was to make a trap using apple cider vinegar. At first, I said no way, I’m not bringing that in my house. But after a while of dealing with the fruit flies, I stopped and thought about what the apple cider vinegar rule symbolized to me. And I realized it was a symbol of control. I had betrayed my boundaries by going to that event, and clinging so hard to that rule about apple cider vinegar was my way of feeling in control again, like I was setting a boundary and following through with it. But deep down, it wasn’t really about the vinegar. So, I wrote myself a letter where I validated my boundaries, apologized to myself for violating my boundaries, and made a promise to not drag myself to that type of event again. And once I did that, I was able to bring the vinegar into my house without a problem. And it was important for me to recognize how much the symbolism matters to me, because if I hadn’t recognized that, I wouldn’t have been able to find another solution. This quiz will help you understand how important symbolic meaning is to you, and that knowledge will help you to meet your needs.