Apparently This Is Me

           Ever since I was a young child, I remember being competitive. Something as insignificant as tic-tac-toe would light the aggressive side of my personality. In addition to being a fierce competitor, I have also been an extreme perfectionist ever since my early years. I can remember building Lego towers and train tracks, and not resting until they were exactly how the box depicted them. In the birth order research, being aggressive and being a perfectionist are listed as personality and work traits respectively for firstborn children. After reading all of the most common traits for firstborns, there is sufficient evidence to say that the majority of the Birth Order Research accurately describes my personality, mental, and work traits.

            As the oldest I have become accustomed to my parents focusing their attention on my younger siblings rather than on me. Self-reliance appears as a personality trait for the firstborn children, and this quality pertains to me as well. An example of my independent nature is my school work. Up until second grade my parents assisted me with any school related subject. Upon reaching third grade, my parents proceeded to guide my brother through pre-school, while I struggled alone with the multiplication tables. Being self-reliant is a logical personality trait for firstborns to possess. Not only do parents need to focus on helping our younger siblings, we need to be able to guide them as well. At some point in their lives, the younger siblings look up to us. Being self-reliant allows us to set an example for them in work habits, as well as preparing them for life. The world isn’t going to cater their every whim. To this day my parents still lend a helping hand to my now seventh grader sibling, where as I have managed to maintain a near-perfect record of straight A’s (one B in geometry). Although they have not helped me, my parents maintained high expectations for me. I was expected to excel in school, sports, and performing arts. Being a high achiever is also one of the many personality traits listed for firstborns. Over the years, I am proud to be able to say I have achieved a lot in my past years. This trait of mine can be testified by some of my achievements such as: earning a spot as the top ten percent of students in America for both my Jr. High years and my freshman year, maintaining a 4.0 GPA while also participating in sports and performing arts, and having won five scholarships in the past two years. Not only was I expected to be an achiever in academics, but in chores around the house as well. I was expected to know how to accomplish various tasks they had already taught my brother, but not me. It’s not easy living up to my parents’ expectations, but with the write mentality and strong powers of concentration, anything is possible.

            Were it not for my strong concentration skills and my mental discipline, I would have died in school by now. Sometimes I still feel overwhelmed by the amount of responsibilities I have on top of my school work. However, I have a “give up and it will haunt your dreams forever” mindset. I hate to abandon or leave tasks unfinished.  Another attribute common to firstborns, including me, is having a patient and tolerant nature. It is necessary for me to be patient, if I’m not I risk going insane. My family is one massive migraine. Between overprotective and controlling parents, and a pre-pubescent brother who argues with anything that breathes, I need to possess equanimity. Being able to maintain my cool allows me to deal with my parents’ assumptions and my brother’s rants. Another trait that matches my personality is being precise. Precision is something that I admire and respect. I like being exact and receiving precise answers. One of my favorite things about English is its so called “gray areas”. Even if you want English to be precise, most times it’s not possible. I like challenges and trying to be exact in English is something I enjoy attempting. Being precise, having strong mental discipline and concentration skills come in very helpful if you’re a perfectionist. As it turns out, most firstborns are, including myself.

            I am a very analytic person. Apparently so are a lot of firstborns. I tend to analyze situations frequently and base my decisions on the most logical or beneficial choices. Being a perfectionist, I will obsess over the minutest flaws, and will redo an entire group project by myself if necessary. If I cannot hit a note perfectly in a song, I will practice for hours until I get it just right. Because of the way my parents raised me, I feel as if I have to provide only my best, or else its disappointing to me and to others. Perfectionism is something that is unobtainable, but to us perfectionists it means get as close as you possibly can.

          The birth order research states that children of a certain birth possess many of the same attributes, mental qualities, and work habits. After analyzing the various traits listed, there is a sufficient amount of evidence to suggest that the research is correct. This research both negative and positive for me. It affects me positively by being able to assume that the research on the other birth orders is mostly accurate, and being able to interact and work with others more effectively based on their birth order research. I do not like that I can be classified into a group with others. I like being unpredictable and undefined. Being classified as a specific birth order makes me feel like just another fact or statistic on a chart, something easily studied or grouped with others just like me. This has somewhat changed my views on the individuality of each person. I used to think that an individual was a mix of random personality types and everyone having their own unique mindset. Apparently, people possess more in common with others than I originally thought. However, it amazes me how accurate this research was in explaining the kind of person I truly am.