Personal Limitations: Personality, Part 1

We all have one. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what your gender, nationality, or age is. God has given every individual a personality and made every personality individual.

Some are extroverts, and some are introverts. Some prefer logic, while others like creativity. There are dreamers and doers, big-picture visionaries and detailed-oriented organizers, quick tempers and long-fuses. No one is better than the next, or any worse than the last one.

What we do need to know, though, is where we fall. For only in understanding who you are in the real world will you find the key to understanding your limitations in the fictional one.

Of course, that’s easier said than done, especially since personality is quite complex with endless possibilities and combinations. And they all interact with fiction differently. So ultimately experimentation with close observation of you own reactions will be the main way to learn what you can or cannot handle.

But where to start? Here are few areas to consider:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Length and vividness of memory
• Addictions
• Strength of imagination
• Analyzer vs. feeler
• Passions
• Ability to separate fiction from reality
• Spiritual tendencies
• Lies you struggle with
• Personal preferences
• Pet peeves
• Dreams
• Fears
• What makes you feel edgy
• What offends
• What induces hopelessness
• Things you have difficulties coping with
• Other quirks

The list may look complicated—and it’s hardly exhaustive—but you probably know more about your limitations than your realize. It’s simply a matter of recognizing what you know instinctively. So next week I’ll provide some examples of some personal limitations I struggle with and how I learned to identify them.