When it comes to your personality, your tendency does not have to be your destiny. Think of your personality as akin to your inner terrain: there are mountainous portions, fertile valleys, rivers, oceans and deserts. The terrain may be difficult to change but YOU get to pick the path through it, the parts you wish to avoid, the parts you wish to spend time in. 

Don’t so much try to ‘change’ yourself as finding areas and situations where your best traits flourish and your weaknesses are less relevant. Ask: “Where can I be me at my best?” Learn to lean into your strengths and find environments where your better tendencies are more likely to emerge, all the while building routines that manage your vulnerabilities. 

Doing this effectively calls for deep self-awareness, a lifelong commitment to self-study, however, as with most things, every disciplined effort yields multiple rewards.

Closing Quotes:

“I use bits and pieces of others’ personalities to form my own.” – Kurt Cobain, 1967-1994, rock musician

“We continue to shape our personality all our life. To know oneself, should assert oneself.” – Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French philosopher

“When you know your own deficiencies, you can work with them instead of being controlled by them.” – Epictetus, c. 50- c.138, Greek Stoic philosopher

“I’ve trained myself to illuminate the things in my personality that are likable and to hide and protect the things that are less likable.” – Will Smith, b. 1968, actor

“Our personality is shaped by all of our experiences, both good and bad, as well as our knowledge and wisdom. It is not static but rather constantly evolving.” – Aiyaz Uddin, b. 1990, Indian entrepreneur, author

As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier

Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832