It feels a little weird doing this but I will give it a go. When I think about my core values, the first things that come to mind are God, family, friends, kindness, respect and health. I was brought up a Roman Catholic and I continue to practice this faith. I believe that Religion is not for everyone and we all have our own way of being spiritual even if we do not realize it. God is important to me but it may not be to you but as long as a person does things with integrity in mind, the world will surely be a better place.
Family is the next big thing that I give importance to. I have been fortunate enough to have been raised by wonderful parents that were there for me ever since. They raised me and my 2 siblings well and I owe everything to them. The other things that I value are my friends, being kind to other people, respecting everyone and anyone and paying attention to my health.
Thankfully, I have not been faced with a lot of situations where I am faced to make an ethical decision. While reflecting, there is not a certain instance that I can pinpoint but, a scenario that goes through my mind is having to tell someone who is older or more senior to me that what he/she is doing wrong. In this situation, I would tend to NOT do or say anything as I want to avoid a potential conflict or uncomfortable situation. I know that this is not the best thing to and I realize that things need to be said or done in life to make a change. This is something that I am trying to improve.
Coming from the Philippines, we are taught to respect and obey our elders and seniors in all aspects of life. Along with this, we also have a close-knit family support system. Like almost anything in life, these have their pros and cons. An example for a pro would be the standard of respect we would have for one another, especially those who are older than us or our superiors. However, a con of this is not being able to approach them openly and frankly at times of need.
I took the Myers Briggs Personality Test and my result was a Turbulent Advocate. It revealed that my strengths are creativity, insightfulness, principled, passionate, and altruistic while my weaknesses are being sensitive to criticism, reluctant to open up, perfectionistic, avoiding the ordinary, and prone to burnout. During this learning journey, being creative and passionate would serve me well while all of my weaknesses would be working against me.
From experience, I have never caused tension with others during work. This is because of my reluctancy to open up. Even if I am sensitive to criticism, I would not be able to say anything as I would shy away from that moment. This leaves me to suck it up and move on. Looking back, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if I do speak out instead of just being quiet. Although this has not been a common practice for me, this is the challenge that I would have to overcome in order to improve. Finding the right balance of saying critical things in a kind or respectful way would minimize the impact and could lead to positive growth for both parties.