My top five strengths according to Strengths Finder are restorative, input, learner, responsibility and adaptability. Restorative makes me adept at dealing with problems, in terms of finding out what’s wrong and being able to fix it. Restorative also means that I spend my talents, energy, intelligence and time trying to fix myself to make myself the best that I can possibly be. Input means that I constantly crave knowledge, and I collect all kinds of information that I find fascinating. Learner means that I have a desire to constantly improve, and that the process of learning intrigues me rather than simply the end product. Responsibility means that I conduct myself in a proper and ethical manner to avoid feeling like I’ve done anything wrong, or someone who always plays by the rules. Adaptability means that I tend to go with the flow, and take things as they come, discovering my future one day at a time.
All of these can easily play a role in my everyday life. My strengths make me a quick learner, one who strives to continue on learning just because I’m fascinated by what’s going on. This is of course valuable in my life now as a student, because that’s the entire point of higher education. In my life outside of academics, these strengths are equally valuable because my strengths in responsibility and adaptability. Socially, these are good strengths to have, because they allow me to form relationships where others value the same things as I do. Once I form these relationships, my other strengths help me to be a good listener to my friends, since I crave to understand things and people, especially things I can’t understand, such as their emotions and anything else they want to talk about. While these strengths aren’t technically in the relationship forming theme of strengths, these are still valuable to have when it comes to forming relationships.
Knowing my strengths certainly supports my future goals to be a practicing veterinarian. To be a successful student by continuing into graduate or doctorate level education, you have to have the strength of lifelong learning. Having my strengths means that I love working through problems and am committed to a lifelong of learning, which is especially important in a field like medicine, where things are always changing and there are always problems to solve. Seeing these as my strengths made me believe that I could actually do what I wanted to do, since the entire process is a stressful and looming thought. Knowing that I have strengths which will be useful to me in my life long learning is a comforting thought, something to fall back on when things get hard. In this way, I can utilize my strengths for the rest of my life and career, because they are all geared towards learning for the sake of being the best veterinarian and person I could possibly be.