Personal Reflection Exercise: Character Analysis

USNA Self Reflection Exercise To complete the “Mapping the Strengths and Virtues” grid, I asked Maddie, my younger sister in her senior year of high school, and my best friend since Freshman year move-in day, Courtney. To avoid letting their answers sway what I thought of myself, I filled out the grid before looking at their answers. I am glad I did so, after seeing what they wrote, I thought “wow, maybe they’re right about that!” for several traits. Close friends and family know you better than you know yourself. Personally, the most surprising realizations I had about my character had to do with “forgiveness/mercy,” “perseverance,” and “gratitude.” How I act around my friends is likely different from how I act around my family, because of that, they both see me slightly differently. This exercise brought forth traits that I did not realize are the cause of problems in my life and that those might leak into how I act professionally. The first trait that caught my eye the most, is forgiveness/mercy. Finding it practically impossible to hold a …show more content…
Maddie and Courtney both marked me as having an ‘extreme excess,” while I, on the other hand, said I had a ‘minor deficiency’ in perseverance. After seeing their ratings, I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. I asked them both about it. Their answers were practically identical: “You don’t give up very easily.” I never thought of myself as a particularly determined person, but I also cannot think of an instance where I walked away from something frustrating. This might cause problems as a pharmacist when having to respect my patient’s autonomy when I disagree. I am not a “pushy” person, but if I think that a patient does not understand something vital, I will probably try to convince them why I think they should choose another option. As a pharmacist I should make sure that my patients are informed but I also must respect their