BOR Essay: Is This Really Me?

No two people are exactly the same, but many people are similar. You share traits with family, friends, and strangers. A lot of times this is because of your birth order. I think it’s unbelievable how much someone’s personality can be influenced by the order in which they were born. As the oldest of two, I fall under the category of first-borns. I believe that the first-born traits from the Birth Order Research accurately describe me.

The research claims first-borns are perfectionists; I have to agree with this because I am a perfectionist. No matter what I set out to do, it has to be my best or else it’s not up to my standards. So when I’m drawing something for a class or doing anything artistic, it has to be exactly what I’m envisioning or else I start over and fix my mistakes. Another example of my perfectionism is my writing. I struggle with writing because I feel like I’m not meeting the requirements. Instead of letting my creativity do the work, I worry my work is not good enough. It takes me twice as long as a normal student because everything has to be exactly right. As you can deduce, the Birth Order Research accurately addresses my perfectionism.

I also agree that I’m a very reliable person, just like the Birth Order Research says of most first-borns. This holds true in all aspects of my life. If I’m working in a group project at school, I will always do my part and even more if I need to. I don’t want to be the one who doesn’t keep my commitments and lets other people down. I’m like this in soccer, too. When I’m playing, I do whatever I can to help my teammates. I try my hardest every game and practice because I have to play my part, just like everyone else. And if I’m not doing my best, the entire team is affected because if one person is off, the team can’t function as a whole. That’s why I need to be the best I can all the time. The research correctly stated my perfectionism and now my reliability.

When I saw that “list maker” was a characteristic of first-borns, I thought to myself “Nope, not at all!” but then I realized that I do in fact make lists. I am an extremely forgetful person. I have so many things on my mind that I never remember all of them. Because of my forgetfulness, I make a list of every important task I need to accomplish. Whether it’s in my phone, in an agenda, or on a scratch piece of paper, I have to write it down or else I will forget! In addition to forgetting my objectives, I also make lists to be organized. There is so much to keep track of that I need to write down what I must accomplish in order to stay organized. That way I can prioritize my assignments and see what has to be done. The research showed yet another accurate characteristic.

To my genuine surprise, the Birth Order Research displayed a fairly accurate list of traits that reflected my personality. I was not expecting to have that much in common with the research but after reading it, I felt like it described me perfectly! This research made me realize that every person is shaped by the environment specific to them. This includes our surroundings, times, and people, such as your siblings and birth order.