To understand yourself you have to take some time for self-reflection. When everything in college feels like it is happening at a break-neck pace, it can be difficult to do that. But, after attending TableTalks with GRF Christa, I realized how important it is to do so. Everyone has strengths that we may be aware of or unaware of that can be used to our advantage. At the start of the session, I was asked what I thought my superpower was. When I heard this question, nothing came to mind because I did not identify with being hard-working, organized, or dedicated. I have these skills, but they do not feel my own. When it was my turn to share, I blurted out my personality: I am an understanding, openminded person. After some back and forth with Christa and insight from my peers, I realized how closely tied my career prospects were with my personality. I had always thought my career and who I was were disjointed, but there was logic behind my choices in why I chose my field and continued to follow its trajectory. Like most people, I know myself, but I do not really know myself. Right now, I am a confused college student trying to figure out how to find internships and connect with others who have similar (or even dissimilar) interests. Getting coaching from others helped me understand myself a bit more. I like hearing other people’s opinions, especially those different from my own. There is something intriguing about finding new perspectives and changing your frame of mind. This is not something that feels new to me; it feels like it became clearer. From this TableTalk I have started to truly understand how powerful coaching is. I had a biased perspective of myself, but after sharing a bit about myself, I have a greater understanding of how powerful my superpower is.

I was very glad to have attended the Table Talk this week on how I can leverage my individual strengths to further my career and find my purpose in life. This event allowed me to do some much-needed self-reflection regarding what I am looking for in a job and how I can achieve the goals I have set for myself for the next year. I realize I have a strong desire to help others, which manifests itself by wanting to establish connections between people. Two ways I can do this are by bringing people together to form a community around a common interest or by fostering individual connections with others through education. If I am able to establish connections between people like this, I will be able to leverage my strengths of diligence, determination, and organization. One of my goals this year is to find an internship for the summer and because of this workshop, I feel like I have taken a big step toward that goal. It was also really nice getting to know more about the other people in the call, such as what their passions, strengths, and goals are. I still have a lot more self-reflection to do, but I feel much more confident in my ability to communicate and identify my strengths in a professional setting now.