I absolutely love personality assessments; taking them, analyzing them, sizing up my friends and co-workers based on theirs. All aspects of it, love it. The most recent one I took was focused on my top five strengths. My number one ~ responsibility. By definition those strong in responsibility 'take psychological ownership of what they say they will do and are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.' Obviously I see this trait play out in various scenarios in my life, but last night I was thinking about it in the context of this website, my blog and the recipes I have been writing.
I was asked the other day why I started this site in the first place. My initial answer a few months ago was simple, it combines my love of food, photography and creative writing. But it has become so much more since then. My 'psychological ownership' drives me to think every day about what content would be meaningful to those following GMB. What message might alter a behavior or open someone's eyes to something new. The result, being driven by my 'commitment to stable values' has been that I have altered my own behavior in as much the way I had hoped those reading my posts would do. I can't put information out there that I myself am not following, it wouldn't be 'honest.'
Nothing has been drastic, just more consistent. Responsible choices about food have been more at the forefront of my thinking each day. My husband said it is starting to get to the point where I need to know the name of the chicken, not just the farm and the farmer before I will eat it. And he's never even seen the Portlandia episode about Colin the chicken.
I have to admit, the small ripple effects of starting GMB has really been touching. I got both of these pictures just yesterday, small children of close friends saying "look Aunt Lissa, I'm eating my beets." Our next generation of healthy eaters, warms my heart.
A lengthy email came from a dear friend I haven't spoken to in almost a decade. "It is so cool to see you working with all those beautiful plants and writing about your garden and food with such reverence. You know I feel the same." He went on to tell me about everything he was growing this year and his desire to work with bees in the future. Awesome connection.
Walking meetings are happening more frequently at work and people are taking 'smoke breaks' by walking to ask a question in person instead of sending an email. If this one is lost on you, give my last blog post a read. Shared language leading to culture change.
A woman I worked with 15 years ago read my post about honeybees and wrote "I have a lot more respect for bees now. Thank you for sharing." Power to our pollinators, without them our food system collapses.
Bumblebee on my hyssop plant.
The ironic thing about starting this site is that I have never really had any actual success growing beets. This season, feeling the literal responsibility of honoring the name now hanging on my potting shed, I planted four varieties of beets in three different ways. Early signs are pointing towards growing beets successfully. Phew, my integrity is still in check.
