We all know that we change as we grow up. It’s expected. Between puberty, hormones, the craziness that is high school, and the newfound independence that comes with college, no one expects to be the exact same person. What came as a huge surprise to me is how much I’ve changed in the first decade of my career.

I used to be an extrovert. If any of you knew me in my teen years, you are probably thinking something along the lines of “Duh.” I thrived in groups, loved to be the center of attention, and would show off any chance I got. In fact, a month after I started my career at the ripe age of 21, I attended professional development training which included the True Colors Personality Test. My dominant color was orange. This wasn’t a shocking revelation or anything, I had known from the second I looked at the descriptions that it described me to a “T.”

My Orange Personality

Orange personalities are competitive. Competitiveness has been one of the most dominant aspects of my personality as long as I can remember. If you told me I couldn’t do something, you could consider it done. If you told me girls couldn’t do it, I would kill myself to prove you wrong. The down side to being uber-competitive is that I absolutely dreading doing something I knew I was bad at.

Oranges like to be the center of attention and bring excitement to society. I always wanted to be the life of the party. Oranges are drawn to tools.  I learned from an early age to build things I needed and wanted. My dad can make anything, and I caught on fast. I’m still all about some DIY projects.

Oranges resist commitment, mainly because they are free and spontaneous personalities. I can’t tell you how many times my mom joked about me not wanting to miss out on anything. And I had several friends that were concerned that my “fear of commitment” would cause me to never settle down.

Obviously, this was me. I had no doubts that the personality test was accurate. Apparently, my new coworkers agreed, because one even donned me an “Orange on Crack.”

The Changes

Looking back, there have been a lot of significant changes over the last decade, even though I’ve kept the same career.  I moved to an apartment two hours from home, just me and Superman when I started my career. A little over three years later, I got the opportunity to transfer to my home area and moved back in with my parents.

A few months after my move home, I reconnected with Colton, and we started dating. A year after that we were engaged, and a year after that we were married. We spent our first year of marriage living in a camper, with all three dogs, while building our house ourselves.

Other than my transfer, my job description hasn’t changed much, but a lot of the people I work with have. The fact that I work with the public, I think, has been one of the biggest influencers on my personality deviations.

The Green and Gold

A few weeks ago, I was doing an office purge (because I love throwing stuff away!), and found the binder with all the info from the True Colors training from over 8 years ago.  My coworker/BFF, that’s only known me two years, got a good laugh when I told her I was an orange, and almost didn’t believe me. Looking back over the personality descriptions, we decided I was a more of a mixture of Green and Gold personalities – my lowest two scores the first time around.

Gold traits pull so strong in my personality now; it’s hard to imagine it ever not being my top color. Gold’s value organization and desire punctuality. If you want to address my top two pet peeves, exchange my name for “Gold” in that last sentence. I can’t stand clutter and disorganization, and being late is the quickest way to cause me frustration. Gold’s want to be self-sufficient, and if you were to ask the husband, that’s probably one of my biggest goals. Speaking of goals, Gold’s are goal-oriented and measure worth by completion. Let me tell you, not much feels as good as achieving a goal or marking something off a to-do list.

My Green shows through my need for perfection, and for things to make logical sense. Also, I’m one of the most indecisive people, and Green’s are slow to make decisions, in part due to asking tons of questions and needing everything to be perfect.

Would I go back?

Honestly, no. I have vivid memories of times where my Orange was on display, and some of them make me cringe. I’ll admit, however, I still have orange tendencies. I’m still ridiculously competitive, I just put myself in fewer situations that trigger this need to be the best. I’m still drawn to tools and feel like I can build anything cheaper than buying it – or at least Daddy can. And every once in a while, I can still feel the urge to be the center of attention. The need for organization and punctuality takes priority every time, and I’m totally okay with that.

What is your color?

Did you recognize yourself in any of the descriptions? Are you a spontaneous social butterfly of an Orange? Do you share my OCD for punctuality and organization like that of a Gold? Does your need for logic, answers, and problem solving make you a Green? Or are you a Blue, the one not described above, that thrives in a nurturing career, makes decisions based on emotions, and has a need to be unique and authentic? Share with me your color in the comments!