Why is it that a
person’s purpose and meaning tend to evolve through the stages of life? What we want in childhood is not what we want
as a young adult and yet again not what we want in our mature adulthood stages
of life. Traits, a mixture of genetics,
environmental pressures, and psychological pressures all play a part in setting
the stage for these changes. According
to McAdams (2006), commitment stories are a beneficial way of passing on and
remembering one’s own life story to convey a caring and supportive approach to
life. Disclosing purpose, meaning, what
supportive factors played a role, and what if anything could have been changed
is helpful when providing information about one’s life.
Since rebounding
from an illness that caused life threatening issues, I have become less success
driven and more focused on maintaining a relationship with God, a healthful
lifestyle, and my family’s well-being. I
have taken an interest in learning about psychological healing so that I will
be able to keep my mind active and volunteer with my community to help those in
need of counseling. I have been trying
to maintain a healthful lifestyle in eating more nutritious meals, exercising
my body and mind, and by trying to provide a living example of a caring,
supportive, positive role model for my family and community. By exercising my religious beliefs and
reaching out to God, I have found the support and spiritual well-being that has
provided me with peace of mind and forgiveness.
“Traits are”
according to McAdams (2006), “viewed as dispositions that have some causal
influence on behaviors, though the influences are complex and exist in
interaction with situational factors” (p. 118).
It is my belief that behavioral dispositions caused the shift in purpose
and meaning to take place in my life. I always
have been a conscientious person; when my life situation changed (e.g. severe
illness) and the external influences changed (e.g. stress and social pressure),
so did my drive for a success-based lifestyle.
In essence these traits exerted an impact on my behavior significant
enough to influence a more positive change for my well-being.
My personality is
a product of my genetics, environment, and psychological experiences which
include gender, family, culture, race, and religion. As a woman I have a tendency to view and
experience life on a more emotional level.
It has been shown that personality begins with the type of care provided
by the parent or caregivers (e.g. authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, and
neglecting). Although every child in the
family will be somewhat different because of innate differences in situational
factors; experiences, beliefs, and gender.
My cultural experiences as a white middle class woman have provided me
with specific standards and expectations to which I am judged in the social
realm. Whereas, religion plays a
powerful role in the development of personality as it pertains to morals and
guidance. Although modernity is the
driving force to abolishing religion as a non-progressive form of advancement,
I for one, am choosing to embrace my faith to provide me with direction,
meaning, and purpose (McAdams, 2006).
My life is blessed, I have a beautiful,
talented daughter, a happy, healthy granddaughter, a loving, courageous husband,
and friends with whom I can love and count on.
As I look back on my life, if there were one thing I could change it would
have been to be stronger for my brother and me.
As an adult I became very active in working with children to report
abuse; however, when I was the victim of abuse it was a different story. Frightened and isolated, I thought no one
could help to stop the beatings. This is
what I would change; I would use the strength that I have now, to reach out to
teachers and community services that could have intervened at the onset of this
horrific situation. Freeing me of the
awful burden to maintain the false image that my father and his wife were good
people and everything was fine.
Life has its
challenges and working through these difficult times builds strength, and
passion to live life for a better purpose.
Traits are formed through the entire experience of life; genetic
predisposition, how we are treated as an infant and growing up, familial and
external experiential factors (e.g. family events versus school), and religious
experiences. While there are past
situations that I wish were different, without the experience of these
encounters I may have developed a different personality and not be in the
incredible position I am now. Morrie
Schwartz stated it best “The way you get meaning into your life is to devote
yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and
devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning” (Albom,
1997, p. 127). With that, it is my goal
to continue to embrace this attitude about life.
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