Personality Affirmation

Don’t take personality quizzes too seriously

BY AVERY WAGEMAN

Personality quizzes are a fun, effortless way of determining who we are and prophesying our futures. However, if the answers they dole out aren’t what we wanted or expected, they suddenly don’t mean anything. It’s great when the results validate how we see our own personalities, but are we being honest with our responses, or are we catering to the result we want from the quiz? If we’re not honest with our answers, the results are fabricated and not an authentic assessment of ourselves.

Depending on the quiz and what we expect from the results, they can be harmless and solely used to assuage curiosity. For example, Buzzfeed’s “What Kind of Pickle Are You” quiz probably would not send you into an existential crisis if you didn’t get the answer you wanted. But quizzes that determine deeper interpretations of our identity and psyche, like the Myers-Briggs test, can have a greater effect on our sense of self. These tests often include questions that exploit the test taker’s insecurities, forcing us to confront difficult aspects of ourselves. It’s comforting to have our positive traits confirmed, but having our faults called out can hit too close to home.

In a time of incredible amounts of stress, when climate change is worsening, student debt is rising, and the state of our mental health is declining, having a test to explain who we are is one less puzzle to solve. But if you don’t like the results from a quiz, or are concerned about who you are, remember that our personalities evolve and change. Ask yourself who you want to be or how you can work on the aspects of yourself you may not like. If you can’t answer these questions yourself, ask the people closest to you; the people who you interact with everyday provide better feedback than an internet quiz driven by algorithms.

You’re Lonely and That’s Okay

Making peace with loneliness in college

BY ANNA AQUINO

And suddenly I was standing there in Coffman, wanting to hang out with someone, and I didn’t know who I could call. I didn’t know who was free or who would say yes or who actually liked spending time with me. I scrolled through my short list of contacts, and some of my guy friends’ names caught my eye. But I wondered if hitting them up would send a message I didn’t intend. Why was wanting to spend time with someone suddenly so mentally taxing?

I’ve only known these people, as lovely as they are, for five months at most. The trust just isn’t there yet. I’ve known my friends from home for at least five years; I know what to expect from them—good or bad. But here, even with the people I want to label as “keepers,” I still wonder how and when they’re going to get sick of me, or which vulnerable moment is going to send them running, and vice versa.

It makes me hesitant to actually click on any of those contacts. Loneliness is often hypocritical in this way; we feel frustrated that no one is reaching out to us, but we also are not taking that risk of a “hey, are you free tonight?” text. In sending the text, we release our control and leave room for rejection. That level of comfort we are looking for, that friend-from-home familiarity, will never be achieved amidst all this hesitation. But that’s okay. Your loneliness does not make you alien or weird. Bouts of loneliness are inevitable in any transitional period of life—college included. Everyone is feeling a little out of place, a little lonely, a little short on hugs. So reach out to people without reservations, without fear of being clingy or too forward. Rather than fearing distance and loss, focus on love and connection. 2