9/15/10-Gifts and Strengths

Via “StrengthsQuest,” I discovered that my top two strengths are “restorative” and “input.” Restorative (just a refresher) means that I have an affinity for broken things, people or otherwise. I find pleasure and accomplishment in listening to people and “fixing” their problems. Input means that I collect things such as old high school papers, interesting words, old books, and other random items. My spiritual gift, exhortation works nicely in association with these strengths. Being a “fixer,” I am required to be real with people and open their eyes to the cause of their struggles and that takes a very direct approach. Input works in association with these gifts because I am extremely observant of others and “collect” details about them, which aids greatly when discussing their lives. You may be wondering, “what does that have to do with anything?”, but people become much more open when you care enough about them to observe changes about them as well as those little personality quirks they think no one notices. I could not pick more applicable traits than these to help me with my future plans. As I wrote about previously, I am going to work in a rehab center for girls overcoming eating disorders. All three of these personal qualities cohesively work together for that cause. There is not a job or a degree better suited for me if one were to look only at my spiritual gifts and strengths. For my personal life, though, these abilities will bring me a lot of joy and a lot of heartache. Joy because I find strength in restoring people and heartache due to the weight of people’s stories. All in all, my gifts and strengths blend beautifully to create a powerful partnership.