Three Words to Describe You


I was in a pageant once. Once. It was kind of a default thing- 5 people were voted from each high school class to compete as a fundraiser for the dance club.
Eh- I’ll try anything once.

It was actually a lot of fun, though I don’t think I would have liked to make it my main scholarship source.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure on our papers or as a questions somewhere, they asked “What three words would you use to describe yourself?”

I think I got that in my medical school interview, too, but they probably asked “What three words would your friends use to describe you?” Tricky, right?

My words typically run along the lines of “intense, determined, reliable, productive, loyal, goal-oriented”…ya’ know…good, type A traits that employers like to hire and that future doctors ought to be…and, yes, this is truly how I and most of my friends would describe me.

(How else are you going to make it through med school with a baby, right?)

But being home for the past few weeks- those traits don’t matter as much as they seem to in school and in the business world.

The traits that do matter?

Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control.

Sure- a lot of the ways that I am described come out of my general love for people and humanity or my ability to control and discipline myself. And while I think that different people definitely have different strengths–I’m learning which ones I need to work on.

Scratch that. I already knew which ones I needed to work on. I just didn’t have any reason to until now.

No one in the OR expects a surgeon to be patient. In fact, they expect you do get the job done ASAP–and to do whatever you have to in order to make it happen.

But my daughter needs me to be patient.

When I’m studying for finals, I’m not thinking about being loving. I’m making sure I know the difference between Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Malaria.

But my husband needs me to be loving.

This whole summer thing is wonderful, believe me–it is also more challenging emotionally than I had planned.

Being in different environments requires different fruits to be more evident or noticed or looked favorably upon I think…or maybe that’s just my excuse to be impatient and lacking in evident love…

If we really all took a good look, we know what we need to work on. It’s just so easy to go on day to day, doing well at our jobs and such…but not going out of our way to be kind or take that extra breath to calm ourselves down before exploding.

I want people to describe me as “loving” instead of “intense” or “kind” instead of “goal-oriented”…

It’s something we should all work on in a very practical sense…so pick one to start with. What’s yours?


12 responses to “Three Words to Describe You”

  1. Patience and empathy for me. I know you said one, but for me they go hand in hand, to be more patient I first have to be more empathetic, but to have more empathy, I have to slow myself down and have the patience to feel the empathy. Yeh, I know, I need work. Have a great day.

  2. Patience and empathy for me. I know you said one, but for me they go hand in hand, to be more patient I first have to be more empathetic, but to have more empathy, I have to slow myself down and have the patience to feel the empathy. Yeh, I know, I need work. Have a great day.

    • No way! Pictures….? 🙂

      Yea, that whole gentle thing….I really don’t like to be perceived as weak. And as much as I try to separate gentleness from weakness, it’s still an ongoing process….

  3. Good word, Stephanie. It reminds me that our Lord does NOT judge as the world does. We must remember who we are pleasing. Even in Type A environments. (Happy summer!!)

  4. Good word, Stephanie. It reminds me that our Lord does NOT judge as the world does. We must remember who we are pleasing. Even in Type A environments. (Happy summer!!)