I took a Myers Briggs personality test the other day, I think it was on https://www.16personalities.com/. It's amazing how accurate the results were. The only caveat to taking the test is you shouldn't allow the definitions of personality types define who you are. You shall always be you and cannot change the core of that. I really enjoy reading about the way people have defined personality types. It's all over the internet. Things like who to date, what type of job to pursue, how you handle stress, what you wish everyone knew about you, etc. all there. One of the things I gained by taking the test and reading all the psychology I could find about my personality type is it brought to remembrance some of the traits I exhibited as a child and young man growing up. I seized on the opportunity to allow some of the dreams from those years to be resurrected. Things like art and music, writing, backpacking, canoeing, just generally outside in observance of this great big beautiful plant. A lot of other things came up from my past too. The hurts and pains of childhood also came back but at 56 years old I began to reason some of those hurts out and most of what I found was most of the hurtful things I remember were simply based on other children not really understanding who any of us were. We were just trying to grow up based on what we had been taught. Again my recollection and my observations. Yours may be totally different which is good as long as you discover who you are. I would challenge you to take a personality test and see what type fits you even if it's simply out of curiosity. Look at it as a journey of self discovery but a fun one, not one based out of the trials and tribulations of life. By the way I'm an INFP... According to the research I've read INFP's make up about 4% of the male population in the United States. I'm not going to go into what an INFP is so you can go do some research if you're even interested.
The rest of my family took the test too. I found my interest peaked by looking at their personality types and trying to redefine the way I communicate with them so our communications happen with a lean towards our personality types. I wish we'd done this years ago. The most interesting thing for me was discovering my youngest daughter has the exact same personality type. This may explain some of the disagreements we've had since we both tried to get each other to be what we thought each other should be. It's a bit confusing but we're figuring it out and enjoying the journey as we go. I also notice I've been evaluating my career with a comparing eye to see if it fits. It's a bit difficult to see how I ended up in my current position but I'm there. I could run off on various trails but am working to stick to the heart of this post. One foot on the rabbit trail I find that life is full of traps that keep us from our hearts desires where we remain until the dreams are so far removed we forget they ever existed. Back to the main trail... Actually I'll chase another subject for a while.
I pulled my out mountain bikes out of the garage the other day and even got my first one back because of my cousin's generosity and I am grateful. My first mountain bike was a Ross Mt Hood. I think I bought it around 1984 at Fay's bicycle shop on 51st street in Tulsa. My uncle went a few weeks later and bought one just like it. We rode a lot of places back then. Northern New Mexico, Lots of places Oklahoma, some even resulting in craziness that make up epic tales passed from generation to generation. Not long after I got married I bought a GT Avalanche for my wife but I don't think she ever rode it. It lasted about two years until I broke the frame in some misadventure with some riding buddies. The frame had a lifetime warranty so it was returned to GT through Bicycles of Tulsa when they were at 41st and Sheridan (I hope my memory is correct). After a few weeks and no word from GT the bicycle shop sent an inquiry to GT to discover they had lost my frame. Amazingly they sent me a brand new Zaskar frame which was a very nice upgrade favorable to me. The Avalanche was a chrome-moly frame and the Zaskar was all aluminum which was much lighter. I rode the Zaskar until I went over the handle bars on an insane downhill and destroyed my shoulder in the resulting crash. That was pretty much the end of riding for me until the other day. I took the Ross and the GT apart cleaning the bearing and re-greasing, new tubes and tires, brake pads and anything else that needed replacement. Since both daughters said they would ride with me I began a search for another bike. It's crazy how the prices for nice mountain bikes have gone up. I began watching the local Craigslist and found a used mid nineties Barracuda for $100. Brought the Barracuda home from Arkansas and went through it with parts replacement and maintenance as needed. We began riding in the local park on two mile bike paths just to acclimate to riding again. Eventually I really want to get back in the woods but without the daredevil recklessness of twenty years ago.
Along the way I discovered Fat Tire Bikes and began a quest to acquire one. Again the prices of new bicycles is crazy and I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy a fat tire bike. While perusing You Tube I started watching videos of an inexpensive Mongoose carried by the big box stores. About twenty videos later I had ordered parts to bring it up to what appeared to be a pretty decent Fat Tire Bike at least one I could test the waters with and decide if I wanted to look into more expensive ones later. Turns out this $189 bicycle was fantastic! I'll ride it until I think I can justify spending about eight times that much for a lighter one with better components.
What does this have to do with the initial topic I started with? I began remembering how much I enjoyed the things I used to do but dropped for so many other responsibilities and traps. I have re-equipped my backpacking gear. I am also low key shopping for a used lightweight canoe for week long trips. I have about thirty journals I've been writing in and continue to move towards a life of happiness without the clutter and stress emanating from the career i ended up pursuing. Yes, I only write in one journal at a time but I'm about thirty journals into it now. I am looking forward to the journey in front of me and can't wait to finish the commitments I've made and must honor before I jump into my journey with gusto.
I'd love to say all of this may be life changing for others but to find something like that in this you'll have to look for parallels or similarities and begin your own journey. I hope you find what you are looking for, I sincerely hope you can find a way to find your journey, the one you laid down years ago.
Enjoy!
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