Turns out changing your personality is harder than it seems

By Aisha Jaffar

Since the horror that was high school, everybody seemed to know themselves, or at least who they wanted to be. Meanwhile, I’m still lost about who I am. Just like every movie about a confused college kid, I’m an outcast trying to discover myself in university. My movie starts off the same way, so I tried to create my “happy ending.”

I went to see my therapist about it, and she suggested I try the 16Personalities quiz, based on the Myers-Briggs personality types. She said everyone is obsessed with them, so I trusted her. Answering questions, having the data analyze me and letting technology tell me who I am seemed like the easiest way to figure myself out. I got my answer, and it was super creepy how accurate it was. 

I got the Defender personality (ISFJ-A/ISFJ-T). The site told me I’m “quite unique,” but this is actually the most common personality, making up about 13 per cent of the population. It seems as though I’m not unique at all. The quiz even told me I’m an affectionate person that is easy to take advantage of. Apparently, you can walk all over me. 

I wondered why there are only 16 ways to be different, because my mom always told me everyone is special in their own way. How can seven billion people be condensed into 16 types? I want to be so different that the personality test website crashes when I take the quiz. 

Doing the quiz changed my life. I became more self-aware. I wanted to get there before artificial intelligence does. Because, you know, they’re going to kill us when they figure out how to overtake the world with their advanced technologies and superhuman strength.

I made more of an effort to get out of my comfort zone, learn and try new things. I tried yoga, I got a life coach and I met new people—all of which I wrote about in my brand-new journal, and even posted about it on Instagram. I got a separate gratitude journal, with a tracker at the end of each page for how much water I drank everyday. I also considered making a YouTube channel.

I started eating healthier and cleaner—I’m not a vegan yet, but I did have a cookie only to realize it was vegan after eating it. About a year later, I’m making baked fish and steamed vegetables for lunch. I feel like I see things in a different light now. 

I decide to take the quiz again, and to my disgust, I got the same result. Same damn personality. I was really annoyed that after all my hardwork of trying to change, I’m still the same person. For people who didn’t like their personality result, I wish you the best of luck if you want to change. 

After everything, I still have my pride. While I was on my journey of self-discovery and almost becoming a vegan, at least I didn’t make a YouTube channel. I’ve got the rest of university to discover myself. 

We are always changing and growing, and it’s completely okay to be unsure of who you are. Whatever result you get on the 16Personalitiess quiz, you may not know exactly who you are just yet, despite what it tells you. But hey, at least your mom loves you, even if you’re not as special as she said you were.