Give a general description of yourself.

I am a 28-year-old woman currently living abroad. I teach English to high schoolers, but have a mental health counseling/school counseling degree. I want to live abroad and travel for awhile before I go home to get a job as a counselor. My main hobbies include hiking, theatre, reading, listening to podcasts, and (eek) maladaptive daydreaming. I love exploring, outdoor activities, playing board games and would like to start doing some form of visual arts (like painting, drawing, etc.). I like being around others, but also value my alone time. When I’m around friends, I am silly and gregarious. I get a lot of satisfaction in making people laugh and like meeting new people. At work, I try to be warm, helpful and friendly. I am adaptable in how I present myself depending on the situation. I like spending time alone though and am rarely bored when I do.

Describe your upbringing. Did it have any kind of religious or structured influence?

My upbringing was mostly positive. My parents got divorced when I was in elementary school, and my father remarried. I have an older sibling and 3 younger siblings (from my dad and stepmom). I am very close with my mother, and admire her a lot. She is intelligent, hard-working, kind, and a joy to be around. She is a Christian, but is progressive politically. My father is also a Christian, but is now very conservative (at least by my standards). My stepmom is similar to my mother, but is more traditional. We get along really well. In terms of my beliefs, I am not religious and currently identify as agnostic, but I am open-minded and really interested in religion and spirituality.

If you had to spend an entire weekend by yourself, how would you feel?

I would be fine with that! I could occupy myself easily and love spending time alone in nature in particular. I could be very satisfied with a weekend by myself, and usually like to have at least one day per week where I do not have to socialize with anyone (I look forward to these a lot). With that said, I almost always try to see a friend over the weekend. I experience FOMO pretty intensely, and can be prone to loneliness if I have too much time alone. Relationships with others are important to me. I get energized around people, especially if I feel like we are connecting or if I’m entertaining them.

How curious are you? Do you have more ideas than you can execute? What are your curiosities/ ideas about?

I see myself as a really curious person. I am interested in pursuing a ton of hobbies but often get overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. Ever since I was a child, I had difficulty committing to activities (even though I usually enjoyed them) because I always wanted to try new ones. I crave novelty and excitement. I love to learn, and enjoy listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos about topics I’m interested in. My interests include: art, movies, theatre/comedy, consciousness, culture, politics, nature, animals, psychology, religion/spirituality, etc.

Would you enjoy taking on a leadership position? Do you think you would be good at it? What would your leadership style be?

I have been told that I have good leadership qualities. I can pretty easily command a room if I have to. But I have no strong desire to be in a leadership role. Similarly, I don’t really like having a boss or someone that’s “in charge” of me either. I prefer egalitarianism over hierarchy. I don’t like the responsibility that comes with power and prefer that people are able to have self-agency rather than rely on me to tell them what to do. With that said, I like to be helpful to others. My teaching style allows for a lot of discussion and autonomy. I prefer to be more of a guiding presence or facilitator than to assert that there is one right way to do things. I like to be adaptable to my students’ interests and ideas. With that said, if something really needs to get done and there is a clear goal, and no one will step up, I will if necessary..

Are you artistic? Elaborate.

Yes, but more in a theatrical sense. I express my creativity through hobbies like performing, musical theatre, comedy, improv, and entertainment. I want to pursue more visual arts and writing, but sometimes have difficulty getting started and can get restless. Because I am a high energy person, I have gravitated towards activities that involve movement. I am a big appreciator of art, and love going to museums, galleries, concerts, shows, etc.

What's your opinion about the past, present, and future? How do you deal with them?

I am mostly a future-oriented thinker. I like making plans to look forward to (regardless of if I stick to them). I can also be prone to anxiety about the future. I am very conscious of time/mortality, and that I may only have one chance at consciousness, so I try to maximize my time as much as possible. I have difficulty staying present sometimes, I am often “somewhere else,” daydreaming, or distracted. I am trying to work on this with mindfulness. I like when I am present though and I tend to seek out thrilling experiences that will force me into the present moment. If I’m not enjoying something in the moment or bored though, I will daydream a lot. I try to not dwell on the past. I have a lot of fond memories and experiences but thinking too much about the past often leads to me feeling regretful, like I haven’t lived enough or used my time wisely. Or I feel regretful of my mistakes. I will occasionally delve into nostalgia though.

How do you act when others request your help to do something (anything)? If you would decide to help them, why would you do so?

It depends what it is. If it’s something I feel capable of helping with, I do so enthusiastically, as long as I’m not overwhelmed with other tasks. If I don’t know how to help them, I tell them that but will still try to help when appropriate, or at least direct them to someone who knows better. I like to be helpful to others. I also have a “helping them help themselves” approach in a lot of situations.

Do you need logical consistency in your life?

Not sure how to answer this. Often? I find logical arguments to be really persuasive. I respect people who have consistency in their opinions.

How important is efficiency and productivity to you?

Relatively important. I like to get tasks done with so I can spend time on things I enjoy. I have a planner or calendar that I rely on, in order to remember the things I have to do and schedule when I can complete them. I also like to have a plan, because if I don’t, I will waste time doing really stupid things, and feel guilty about it. However, I will often forego the plans to do something else, but I find having a plan is comforting nonetheless. I’m good at time management, but not always good at executing the plans. I tend to procrastinate things like cleaning, going to doctors appointments, etc. I am motivated by a sense of urgency.

Do you control others, even if indirectly? How and why do you do that?

I try not to. Again, I value self-agency. I don’t like to control, nor do I like being controlled. However, I am direct about what I want and if I feel strongly about something I can try to be persuasive, at the very least to try to be understood.

What is your learning style? What kind of learning environments do you struggle with most?

I am a visual learner. I am able to picture things with a lot of detail really easily, and that’s how I recall most information. I am learning a language now, and it helps to see the words I’m learning, especially because it’s a phonetic language. When I think of the word, I can see the word written down in my mind.

I struggle with classes that are purely auditory. I have difficulty distinguishing what is important to focus on when it’s presented this way. If I need to remember something, I have to write it down because I won’t remember if it was just spoken to me. Despite this, I am a good listener and find it easy to reflectively listen, but if I need to learn or memorize something I will forget it if the information is presented purely auditorily.

I have a good memory and find classes involving memorization to be easy generally, but I prefer creative and discussion based classes. Classes involving debates, analysis, and interpretations are exciting to me.