Know Thyself

It is impossible to know everything about anyone, including yourself. We learn new things every day, and often we discover that we are capable of doing something we thought we would never be able to accomplish. To know yourself is to know your own strengths and weaknesses, to know how much you can handle, or what is too much for you to take. We know what we are able to do, what is required to do it, and how we, as individuals, are able to react in certain situations. It is important to know yourself because we are the best judges of our actions. By having this knowledge, we are able to stop ourselves from doing things we know will not turn out well, and when to push ourselves when we are confident we can accomplish something if we work hard at it. We know what kind of people to surround ourselves with, how to differentiate right from wrong, and when to make choices that will be beneficial to people other than ourselves.
My worst quality. I can easily say that I have many. I talk too much, I don’t take other people’s advice, I don’t listen when I’m warned not to do something. I lie about stupid things that aren’t worth lying about. My absolute worst quality is that I trust people way too easily. I have found in the past that if I feel that someone can be trusted, I don’t think twice about it, I automatically trust them with everything. I have learned that trust cannot be handed over, it has to be earned. This past summer, I became friends with someone who had me convinced that I could trust him with anything. We spent every day together, and if we weren’t together physically, we were on the phone for all hours of the night. I trusted him with my life, told him everything, went out of my way to be there for him when he needed me, and would have done anything for him. I lied to my parents so I could see him, lied to my friends when they asked me to hang out with them, because I would have rather been with him than anyone else This friendship turned out to be a false one, and I was mistaken in trusting someone so quickly. I was devastated that I put so much time and effort into someone and got nothing in return. I learned the hard way, and will never trust someone again until they have proved that they are worth it. I have found that this is my worst quality because I have seen people in my life be betrayed, but was still fooled myself. I ignored those who really cared about me because I wanted something that wasn’t real. I have learned my lesson when it comes to trusting people, and I have known what it is like to have my weakness get the best of me.
My best quality would be my organization and perseverance. This has not always been my strength, but as the years have passed I believe I have gotten better at it. In the beginning of high school, I did not care about my grades and did not have any drive to succeed. I wanted the school days to be over, and school was the last place I ever wanted to spend my time. I didn’t put any time into my assignments and made no attempt to do well. My rude awakening came in the summer before junior year when I realized that if I wanted to get into college, I had to get my act together - quickly. I have learned that nothing comes easy and that I need to work hard to succeed. I will never be someone who can achieve something without putting a great amount of effort into it, but if I try my hardest I will be pleased with the results. I have managed to organize my life so I concentrate on my schoolwork, manage a job, and still spend time with my friends & family. I no longer get stressed over the tasks I am expected to complete, and have realized that complaining about something is not going to make it go away. My best quality is that I have the drive to succeed and do not give up until I feel that I have done everything possible to make it the best I am capable of. I know I am not perfect, but as long as I reach my own personal standards, I am satisfied. This is a quality that will be useful as I enter college, because the expectations people have of me are only going to get higher, and I will need this quality to push me to work my hardest
It is easy for people to write about their bad qualities. People are very self conscious and can often point out what they don’t like about themselves in an instant. Every day I hear people complain about what they would change about themselves if they could, what they think isn’t fair, or how bad a certain situation is. It is easy to point out the bad things because we all know what we would change if we were given the choice. I feel that writing about my bad qualities is easy for me for these same reasons, because I have learned from mistakes and know exactly what I would do differently if I could go back in time. I also know that bad qualities are what make us who we are, and the bad experiences teach us how to react in the future, which will lead to our good qualities. Learning from mistakes shows us what we can do differently, and when we do something the way we know is right, this becomes a good quality. It is hard to write about our strengths because we don’t like to brag, and we don’t want others to think we are full of ourselves. I believe it is important to know our strengths and weaknesses because from these things we gain knowledge, and part of life is making mistakes, learning from them, and being even more successful because of them.