WW Activity - Personal Strengths - 23rd Jan 2019
Hey guys! Welcome to the 4th Wellbeing Wednesday for 2019! 😄
Today we thought we could talk about our Personal Strengths: How we can identify them and the role that they play in our lives.
(Also! If you’re interested in the thinking behind Wellbeing Wednesdays or wanted to sneak a peek at our previous activities, here’s a link to @Jay-RO's Wellbeing Wednesday thread 😄 )
So, Strengths! We’re an amazingly diverse and different bunch here on RO 
, but one awesome thing that we have in common is that we all have an individual set of strengths that we use to navigate our day-to-day lives.
It’s not always easy to name our own strengths, and often we can fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others and feeling like we have nothing to offer in comparison. 😞 This goes double if we’re already doubting ourselves! That being said, we all have something wonderful to offer and amazing qualities that we can draw upon when things get challenging.
Identifying strengths isn’t just a really good way of building self-confidence, it’s also a good way to build resilience! 😄 This way, we know that we always have some tools to help anchor us, even when other parts of life might be unsteady.
Sooooo *drum roll* today’s activity is to:
Try to identify some of your strengths! (okay you probably guessed this one 
)
A handy way to think of some, if you find yourself coming up blank, is to reflect upon the qualities that you value in other people: there could be some overlap! E.g. empathetic people might value empathy in others 😉
Try find as many as possible if you can, you’ll be surprised how many you can come up with!
To get the ball rolling I’ve popped below a lovely list of strengths borrowed from @Jess1-RO to help us think!
Considerate, Funny, Creative, Caring, Loving, Free-spirited, Spiritual, Respectful, Self-aware, Flexible, Independent, Authentic, Warm, Proud, Passionate, Wise, Organised, Smart, Open-minded, Beautiful, Friendly, Open, Honest, Energetic, Team Player, Willpower, Mindful, Brilliant, Peaceful, Joker, Hardworking, Dedicated, Modest, Daring, Adventurous, Athletic, Strong, Kind, Social, Brave, Clever, Courageous, Empathetic, Able, Problem-Solver, Focused, Determined, Hopeful, Good Listener, Confident, Knowledgeable, Tolerant, Eager, Good Communicator and many more!
Bonus question: can you think of a time/situation where your strengths have/could come in handy in your life?
Comments
It is hard to view our strengths when we feel helpless or hopeless about things effecting our lives, but this is exactly where our strengths build from - all the challenges we are faced with make us stronger and more capable to handle new things with the right frame of mind and the tools to get you there.
So - I think my strengths are: empathy, team-work, kindness, honesty and resilience.
This is an awesome thread! It can be really challenging to identify what our strengths are, but is so important!
I have also taken the VIA survey and my top 6 were:
Perseverance
Honesty
Gratitude
Kindness
Fairness
Hope
Which I would consider to be pretty accurate. I am definitely known to utilise the 'just keep swimming' mindset of perseverance and place incredible importance on kindness and inclusivity
Bonus question: can you think of a time/situation where your strengths have/could come in handy in your life?
The strength of perseverance has definitely come in handy over the last few years with my degree! Not sure I'd have made it this far if perseverance wasn't one of my strengths
Love this week's activity. I
t's always so great to hear other people describing their own strengths - in the ones you have all shared I kept nodding my head thinking about how much I see these strengths in you - even from the brief interactions we've had!!
@ecla34 @mrmusic @Bee @Ladybug
I've done the VIA survey too @Bee , and my top strengths that it identified were:
- Love
- Curiosity
- Appreciation of beauty and excellence
- Kindness
- Love of learning
As a social worker, the strengths of curiosity and kindness are particularly helpful!
Hey @ecla34, this is a great idea! 🙂 It is so important to be able to identify strengths in ourselves, so this will be a great activity for me, as I'm not very good at finding strengths in myself.
So, here goes my list:
kind hearted, passionate, fair, determined, courageous, open to trying new things, empathetic, willing to help, strong, always looking to improve, honest, mindful.
Like both @Ladybug and @Bee, I have also completed the VIA Character Institute Strengths Survey, and spirituality came up as my number 1 strength - which makes sense given that I have a strong faith.
Forgot to put this in haha 😛
Bonus question: can you think of a time/situation where your strengths have/could come in handy in your life?
Absolutely, the main example that comes to mind is when I began to seriously struggle with my mental health whilst completing my degree. I find that my determination was what kept me going despite all the struggles that came my way. The subsequent change from music to music therapy was also important for me as it helped reframe my struggles in a more helpful way, and made me feel like I had more of a purpose.
Absolutely agree with what @Bee said about feeling joy when other people on the forum achieve things - that's one of many reasons why I love this forum so much.
Some of my strengths
I did a similar activity with my job search provide with my old employment consultant a while back and this is what we came up with
I've also done the VIA Character institute strengths survey 4 times over 5years and constantly my top 6 strengths are the same, just reorganised! (in order of my last result)
Fairness, Kindness, Honesty, Teamwork, Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence, Judgment
Bonus question: can you think of a time/situation where your strengths have/could come in handy in your life?
The first thing that comes to mind is the strength of Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence in my hobby of photography and colouring in, but also I've found I appreciate the excellent things a lot here in the forums, seeing when someone achieves something they have been worried about or struggled with, it brings me joy and makes me appreciate the closeness that the forums allow us to feel with each other
From the image of strengths cards I did with the employment agency, I think capable and determined are the ones which really stand out for me, and I've seen it time and time again, I keep fighting through, whether it's a bad day or a problem I'm facing, I tend to not give up, I'm like a dog at the bone chewing away at it until I've eaten it all 😛
This is a great topic!
Some strengths of mine that come to mind are:
loyal, trustworthy, confident, dedicated, understanding, respectful, friendly, reliable, adaptable, intelligent (academically and socially), I always tend to think positively of people even in difficult situations.
I have also completed the VIA Character institute strengths survey. My top 7 strengths are:
Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Honesty, Social Intelligence, Spirituality, Prudence, Hope and Kindness. @Bee we have a few of the same strengths!!
Bonus question: can you think of a time/situation where your strengths have/could come in handy in your life?
I feel like my strengths will help me to make new friends in life as I find people become quite comfortable around me very quickly and often return to me for advice. I also think that being dedicated and adaptable can help me to persist with achieving my goals even if there are setbacks.
I can always identify others strengths but my own- sheesh hard!
I've done the via survey too (because I love wasting time on random quizzes and stuff :P) and my top six were:
1. Kindness
2. Fairness
3. Honesty
4. Judgement
5. Teamwork
6. Humor
Which I like 🙂 Another one though that I think I have pretty highly is persistence, or perseverance, that kind of one because I'm still here and I'm still trying, and that's something.
@mrmusic reading your list of strengths I'm nodding and going yep that sounds like you!
@gina-RO I agree those are amazing strengths as a social worker!
What about the rest of the community? What do you think are some of your personal strengths?
@litgym @annabethxchase @nyke @scared01 @redhead @Bananatime04 @Sunflower18 @BunnyWalks @Maddyw @saltwaterdreamtime @roseisnotaplant @dog_lover94 @peacelovepizza @DIVYA @Shwe
I took VIA survey too, and my strengths were:
1. Fairness
2. Leadership
3. Forgiveness
4. Hope
5. Humor 🙂
@N1ghtW1ng I love taking random quizzes too, especially Buzzfeed America's food quizzes 
I love this WW @ecla34! It has been so great to learn more about the strengths each member brings to our community
I did the via strengths quiz and came back with:
1. Judgement
2. Perseverance
3. Teamwork
4. Curiosity
5. Prudence
hey @Bananatime04 - every single person has strengths. It can be hard to see them in ourselves sometimes, but you definitely have strengths!
I've seen a few of them on the forum - your ability to encourage other people when they are in distress, and your compassion is very clear.
Out of the 7 billion people on the planet, each of them have strengths - I very much doubt that you are the one exception!
Resurrection! This WW hits home to be honest. I always used to write off other people's compliments whenever I received them, telling myself that they don't really know me enough [to be giving accurate compliments] or they're just saying that to be nice / because it's the socially acceptable thing to do. That's totally not what it's like though!
I'm constantly being critical of my character and my not-so-strengths and trying to find ways to improve them, so this self-reflecting helps to ground me. I think I am a problem-solver, hard-worker and quiet leader, rather perceptive and have high emotional intelligence, and have vision / am creatively left-field.
I also find it fascinating to hear how other people perceive me, because it's often quite insightful. I had someone provide me a reference today and it was really lovely -- they noticed qualities like: well-mannered, quiet achiever, keen sense of community and reliable. Interestly, they're very passive / subtle / nuance attributes, not what comes to mind when I think of "strengths", but they're also very me.
BONUS QUESTION: The perceptiveness / emotional intelligence thing means that I can notice how someone's feeling quickly and provide support, but also step back and let other people take control if I feel they will do a better job. It's definitely been helpful in youth work! I'm greatful for my problem-solving / vision because it allows me to take someone's initial ideas, amplify them, raise the stakes and turn them into reality, which come in handy when they push me out of my comfort zone and try new things.
