It’s impossible to pick a percentage. Some people say I’m like my mother, but my thinking and how I react has always been mostly me. I’ll give an example. I prefer to do things without needing to rely on others. I learned that from my mother, except I’m not so dug in that it means I can’t accept help or ask for help when I really need it. My mother always has to pay you back for the help immediately. Even her children. I do not. I understand we all need help sometimes and it’s no shame to get it. I think some of that is from my dad. But I clearly remember as a child not even feeling that way. It wasn’t later till I realized that there are people in the world who would take advantage of generosity, or do things with expectations did I come to see why independence is necessary. So there is where life itself shaped some of my personality.
It’s like a basket of mixed nuts. I’ve also learned valuable life lessons from teachers, strangers, workmates, and relatives. But here is something people don’t think about. We can have two people learn the same life lesson differently. So part of that has to be nature. I didn’t think like most children when I was young. I knew that then and I know it now. I enjoyed observing others and studying people just as much as I enjoyed observing animals and nature.
I was a little shy but I also could be very friendly and a bit of an extravert when I thought a person safe. That part is all me along with other parts that still remain. Like, I love being silly. I can make myself laugh. I still enjoy nature and animals and love learning. All those things are me, but my serious side has been shaped and changed over the years. That part of me isn’t the core of who I am. That is constantly in flux only less so as I age.
What I thought were certain in my 20s became uncertain in my 40’s and now I’m sure I was wrong in my 20s. Time and knowledge and the ability to change, changes who we are.