Thursday, March 10

42 up

I watched an interesting video yesterday, one recommended by my child development instructor last semester. It's called 42 up. It's a longitudinal study of 13 British children from ages 7 to 42 interviewed every seven years. A guess the voyeur in me can't help but be appreciative of this project.

I find it troubling that the children I most identified with as they grew up were the two that had lived in a children's home and were the least focused in life, especially Symon. The children who have made what I consider the most of their lives, Nick and Bruce, seem to have always had a good sense of who they are, feelings that I envy. My chant in life has always been "I can do anything, if only I knew what it was."

Actually, I think that this desire for self-definition is another reason why I have decided to keep a blog. I've never been very good at defining myself. I always feel like a bit of a chameleon, because I adapt to the needs of the situation and the people in it. It's not like I don't have a backbone, I'm actually a pretty intense person. I 'm just so many things that the things that need to come out in a certain situation do, and the less important things hide in the background until they can't stand it anymore (and then make themselves known in all kinds of unpleasant ways). It makes me feel a bit phony at times, which bothers me. So the idea is that in this little alcove of the web, I'm discussing things I find important without influence. In time, this may help me better trust my evaluation of my values.

Yes, I know; I spend way too much time thinking about these things. Ciao.

2 comments:

me said...

Quote:
"Actually, I think that this desire for self-definition is another reason why I have decided to keep a blog. I've never been very good at defining myself."

So what's the main reason? I say "actually" too. Must be an infj thing. So is a search for meaning in everything. There are answers everywhere and sometimes the meaning or definition is hiding. Oh and hey you're doing just fine. :)

Lora said...

I guess, my main reason for keeping a blog is simply that it sounded like a good idea at the time and I'm having fun with it.