I have done and said a lot of things that I’m not proud of. I was probably one of the meanest, bitchiest, bossiest, and most outspoken girls in middle school.

I was so bossy that when I was little, my older brother and my dad would love to tease me by playing the song “I’m bossy” by Kellis and Too$hort. This drove me NUTS! I also remember making my grandma cry once because I was so overprotective of my Dad that I wouldn’t let her use his computer. We laugh about this now, but honestly, those days were DARK!

This isn’t me bragging about those dark parts of my personality that I still struggle with to this day. Patience is something I’ve had to work on. Being understanding? – not my best trait. But I‘ve learned that turning all of these flamboyant personality traits into something good is one of the best things someone can do.

Everyone deserves a second chance at life. Heck, I know I’ve needed more than two chances to get it right. These experiences have taught me that only you have the power to reinvent yourself. If there are parts of your personality that make you feel insecure, unsure, or that you find yourself constantly second-guessing, turn it into something positive some way, somehow.

For me, I’ve turned bossiness into being more of a teacher as opposed to just saying, do this and do that now. I guess it comes with maturing, but I saw myself in the period of eight years slowly letting go of the bad parts of my strong ego and turning those parts into something positive.

Because of this, I was able to become a part of a leadership council in soccer. This opportunity allowed me to coach the younger freshmen on my college soccer team as a senior. One of the most rewarding memories of my collegiate soccer career was the younger girls telling me they looked up to me, always reaching out to me to learn as much as possible, and looking to me for a spark of confidence or guidance. That’s a feeling I wouldn’t trade for anything else.

My pastor once said, what we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others’ lives beyond.

If you’re someone that shares these struggles, find a way to turn your weak personality traits into something that can impact others. This is important because the moment we stop looking at ourselves so much and focus on what we can bring to this world is the moment we begin to shine our light in dark places and live happier.

Jesus didn’t look for perfect people. He looked for the people that had a lot wrong with them but also, had the potential to do great things and to be great. So if you feel that you’re someone that has everything wrong with your personality, work to find ways to transform that which you perceive to be bad into something better – something good.