My greatest strength according to VIA is honesty, which is in the “courage” virtue category. I like to think that I am honest as much as I can be; if it’s going to be hurtful, I usually try to find another way to say something without masking the truth. I feel that honesty and communication are the key building blocks of any relationship (not just romantic relationships), and our relationships are what make life worth living. Honesty also builds into owning up for things you’ve done; taking credit when you deserve it and also accepting blame when it’s due.
My second greatest strength is perspective, which is in the “wisdom” virtue category. This one is all about being able to provide counsel to others and having methods of looking at the world that make sense. I am often someone that my friends go to for advice, and I almost always give the right advice, even if it is initially ignored. I do try to look at a problem from multiple angles before I give an opinion or course of action on it.
One of my other strengths is humor, from the transcendence virtue category. As someone who frequently gives advice and talks about touchy subjects with their friends, I also need to be able to lighten the mood, and humor helps with that. Laughter is a key part of enjoying life, and smiling feels good, too. Making other people experience those things brings me joy in my own life. I also try not to take anything too seriously, because that just detracts from one’s enjoyment of it. Some things aren’t meant to be enjoyed, but that doesn’t mean they have to pass without any glimmer of fun or happiness.
Judgment is another one of my strong traits, from the virtue of wisdom, and it ties into the two previous strengths fairly well. In order to give sound advice or have a decent perspective on something, you need to be able to weigh all the evidence in front of you in a reasonable manner and then make a rational decision based on that evidence. Similarly, sometimes things were not meant to be funny or enjoyable. A funeral would not be a good place to tell a knock-knock joke, etc. I don’t always make the right judgments for myself, but I am usually then able to create a secondary judgment to help me not be dumb in the future.
The last strength I’m going to talk about in this post is my ability to appreciate beauty and excellence. This, sensibly, is within the category of transcendence. I almost always am able to see what is going right in a picture, especially if it’s something I know about. This can range from a musical performance to a strategy in a game to just plain nature. I try to take time to look around and really look at what’s around me instead of just seeing it. This can often help clear my mind and put me in a better mood. There’s so much around us to enjoy, but we tend to stick to the same things; shaking things up by looking at something new is a good thing to do once in a while.
