A Long Time Ago, We Used to Be Friends

I spent the past week near South Bend, Indiana to attend my brother's graduation from Notre Dame. It was interesting to observe his congratulations/goodbyes to his friends, because unlike my sister and I, he is one of the cool kids, a social butterfly, a big man on campus...an extreme extrovert.

This guy is pretty cool.

It made me reflect on my college experience. While many people state that the college years are "the best years of their life," I'm not sure I could say that about my 5 years (I was in a special 5-year double degree program). I think this is because I didn't actually know that I was really an introvert. Therefore, I didn't really know how to handle various situations/obligations at that stage of my life. This led to social anxiety, academic burnout, and emotional depression. Rather than becoming aware of my personality type and how to effectively use my energy, I began to close myself off from making friends and from trying my hardest in my academic pursuits.

Rather than investing in relationships, I clung to a select few people, and my social identity relied on them. I'd essentially "hide" behind them instead of learning how to utilize my own precious energy wisely. When those select close friendships faded, by proxy, so did all the other friendships/acquaintances I had.

She's the Watson to my Sherlock.

Rather than focusing on areas I was truly passionate about, I spread myself too thin and attempted to just "prove myself" instead of excelling in areas of strength. I hated the idea of academic advising meetings, simply because the thought of conversing with my advisor about my failures was stressful. And to this day, I still don't know what I'm doing with my life.

Over the past year, I've been learning more and more about my personality as an introvert. It doesn't mean I'm shy, quiet, aloof, snobby, anti-social, diva, or many of the other "negative" adjectives I've been labeled over the years. While I haven't taken the official Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, all of the free tests (however accurate/inaccurate they may be) that I have tried consistently say that I am an INTJ. And everything I read about that personality type describes me perfectly.

It was interesting to geek out with my sister about personality profiles this weekend. I think she said she was either an INFP or INFJ. While she's been described as the "shy wallflower," and I've been seen as the "arrogant snob," we both know that it's because our introverted tendencies influence or interactions with others.  If you *really* got to know us, you'd discover that she can be a boisterous and loud fanatic, and I can be an approachable and strong leader. It all depends on how comfortable we are in a given situation. However, we both decided that if we weren't blood related to our extroverted brother, we definitely wouldn't have run in the same circles ;)

I love these kids.

The more I learn about personality types, the more I hope to learn how to better ration my energy supply so that I can invest more in relationships and experiences. I want to be a better friend, a better life-long learner, a better wife, a better disciple...

So forgive me if I've ever seemed cold, uninterested, distant, arrogant, etc. I hope that I can appropriately approach my relationships with greater care and invest the energy into long lost friendships. Because you are awesome and deserve it!

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Do you know your personality profile? Any good resources to share?

The Best Mario Kart Level Ever

WI license plates on every car....people actually using their turn signals....smooth freeway roads...strategically placed construction cones...

Driving around the Milwaukee area for a bit felt SO good. I can't wait to be back home in a couple more weeks!

I took this photo of of the Marquette interchange a couple years ago.
It really is the best Mario Kart level ever.

Science Saturday 4.5: Breast Cancer, Bees, & More

Today's post is going to be short and sweet, since I am away on vacation...my little brother is graduating from college this weekend! Yay, family time :)

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The big news of the week was Angelina Jolie's op-ed piece about her double mastectomy. In doing so, she has helped open up the dialogue about of the genetic factors contributing to the development of different types of cancer. Here is a great write up about the history of our understanding of the BRCA1 mutation.

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Have you heard about the Mars One project? The team plans to send colonization supplies to Mars by 2016, and to have settlers land by 2023. Apparently, over 20,000 people have applied to be part of the crew. The catch? This is a one-way mission.

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I've never been a fan of math, even though math and biology run hand in hand. Here is a great write up explaining why bees choose to build their honeycombs in perfectly hexagonal shaped cells (read the linked article first, then watch the video below!).