MSLD 641 Module 7- Appreciating Your “Real Self”

For this week’s reflection blog, I have completed a series of exercises from the Becoming a Resonant Leader textbook. The exercise explored different things about myself: including different events that have occurred in my lifetime, relationships, as well as changes in the way I think and do things. Overall, I found the exercise to be not only interesting, but useful. It helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses better, and the series of exercises were also helpful in providing ideas for a suitable career path.

Of all the exercises, I found the lifeline exercise to be the most interesting. My 25 years of life so far has been overall positive. I have done and accomplished many things- travelling to various famous cities around the world, winning first place in an island-wide essay contest, graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration, and soon to graduate with a Master’s of Science in Leadership. Aside from the events that have occurred in my life, seeing how I changed as a person was also very interesting.

One of my big turning points occurred near the end of high school when my best friend unexpectedly passed away. He was the first non-family loss I’ve experienced. I recall not doing well in class and isolating myself from everyone. As friends and family members eventually learned what I was going through, I remember receiving a lot of emotional support- some from people that I hardly even knew or spoke with. As a very introverted and somewhat mean person at the time, I was at first a bit irritated and nervous on having many people approach me. Eventually, it made me realize how people really cared about me and was sacrificing their own time to make sure I was doing okay. Around the same time, my friend’s parents, who are community spokespersons began sharing his story: spreading awareness to share kindness with others. After hearing the many good things my friend has done before he died, I began to think that I should do the same. Since then, I have started to talk to an array of people and focused more on establishing positive relationships.

Another activity that was included in the textbook were focused on social identities. This exercise, in my opinion was the most challenging: as there were some areas (such as interests) that I am unsure about. The most difficult part of the exercise was when I listed my social roles. It took me a very long time to think over what roles I have, and I could only come up with very little: daughter, sister, student, full-time employee, and academic advisor. After listing the different roles I have, the exercise asked the three big questions that I struggle with almost daily:

1. Which roles and social identities are most important to you and why?
2. How were you taught about your identities?
3. Are there any aspects of your identity or roles that you are interested in exploring more deeply? Which ones and why?

Even though I am currently an academic advisor, I have chosen this path because of opportunities. Desperate for a job after getting my bachelors, I applied to various places in hope to develop a starting point and discover what my interests are and skills are. Now nearly in my third year as an advisor, I have developed and enhanced an array of skills, but is still unsure if student advisement is a long term path I’d like to stick to. This exercise however had helped me identify what skills, strengths, and weaknesses I have- which could be used to narrow down and provide ideas for a new career path.

Reference:

McKee, A., Boyatzis, R. E., & Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a resonant leader: Develop your emotional intelligence, renew your relationships, sustain your effectiveness. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.