I got the idea for this post from Alice at Mom Jeans and Jesus, who wrote a post last month titled, “what do my friends associate with me?” I thought it was a great idea ad super interesting what the people closest to you think about when they think of you. However, as I don’t have that many IRL friends to ask, I decided to do my own version of this post!
Wondering what people associate with me isn’t something I’ve ever really thought about. But once I read Alice’s post, it really did get me thinking. At the end of the day, we associate things with everyone we know, right?
When I think of my boyfriend, I think of Formula 1.
When I think of my friend Hannah, I think of kindness and warmth.
When I think of my Dad, I think of horse racing.
Like, it’s natural that we attach things, places, emotions etc. to the people in our lives. So it got me wondering what people think of when they think of me.
I started off my asking my boyfriend and my parents because I assumed they would have different answers to my online pals. Which they did. Very different.
What did my boyfriend associate with me?
Sleep. Organization. Food. Books. Squash (the drink). Sneezing. Workouts. Brands Hatch and Driving Again.
I mean. I’m not mad. I’m not. Some of these are totally fair enough. I sleep a lot. I eat a lot. I drink a lot of squash and I’m ALWAYS sneezing. Those are merely observations. Brands Hatch is somewhere Carl and I both love to go, so I like that that is on here because it’s a special place.
What did my Mum associate with me?
Books. Yoga. Formula 1. Chicken wings.
Chicken wings made me literally laugh out loud. There’s a running joke in my household about the amount of chicken wings I eat so it was only natural that they were going to crop up sometime. Books, Yoga and Formula 1 are all perfectly understandable too.
What did my Dad associate with me?
Daughter. Blogging exploits.
His words, not mine. My Dad is on a different planet, so not quite sure he was thinking about this assignment in the same way everyone else was. But I mean, fair enough. He’s not wrong. I am his daughter and blogging exploits seems accurate.
What did my online pals associate with me?
This is where it gets interesting and my ego well and truly got too big for my boots. I’m kidding. Basically… WHY IS EVERYONE SO NICE?
When I sent out the tweet asking people to tell me what they associated with me, I was well and truly expecting people to say something like dogs. Or sarcasm. Or being a bit of a bitch but she’s alright.
Before we dissect this, I just want to mention that the way I made this word cloud didn’t allow multiple words as one. For example “self care”. I tried to find a way around it but because I’m technologically incompetent I couldn’t. So some phrases are split up.
So what did people say?
Some of these I’m not surprised by at all. “Fluffy white dogs” made me laugh as did “garden offices”. I both talk about both of those quite a lot! I had “self care” and “personal growth” come up quite a bit which makes sense, as I talk about them so much on my blog.
But ultimately, the two things I really took away from this little experiment is that 1) people are really bloody nice and 2) most people associate me with my blog, the topics I write about and just generally blogging related things. Which I’m not quite sure how I feel about. Here are the top 4 most common words I had:
Blogging: Like I said, I’m not sure how I feel about this. Obviously, most of the people replying to this tweet read my blog and are people I’ve met online through blogging. Blogging connects us all by such a strong thread that it’s no surprise that this was on there so much.
After blogging for so long, it’s obviously come a bit of an identity for me. I had “blogging tips” come up, which is nice because it shows that people respect my advice. And although my career is a HUGE part of who I am, perhaps it might be time for me to try something else and branch out?
Kindness: Okay I’m REALLY thrilled that this one came up. I did a lot of work on core values whilst I was doing various life coaching programs last year and “kindness” is my top core value. It’s the thing that comes up over and over again for me. Something I always want to work on.
So it’s really lovely that people notice that. Personally, I don’t always think I come across as particularly kind. I know in my personal life I am, due to the things I do. But I worry sometimes that I have a harder exterior which doesn’t show that value beneath the skin. Apparently I was wrong!
Supportive: This is similar to above and I really like that this one came up so much. I try to be supportive; again, it’s something that I don’t always feel comes across online. But it must do. So yay!
Inspirational: This one I just can’t get my head around. I don’t think anyone ever really grasps it when someone else calls them inspirational. I certainly can’t so I can only assume anyone that said this was high at the time.
Another few which made me happy to see were “hard working”, “positivity” and “ambitious”. I know I’m hard working so it’s cool that others see that too. And I like to think I’m positive online – although I do also keep it really real as well – so it’s cool that y’all don’t look at me as some miserable bitch.
Ah I love this post it’s so cute! 😍😊 We can always be hard on ourselves or wonder what others think of us but more often than not, I think we would all be a bit surprised if we asked others this same question! 😏
I totally agree!
This is brilliant! Might have to try it myself! Your dads comments made me chuckle. Dads are funny! Thanks for sharing! X
Thank you! I’d love to read yours!
Aww you have some lovely things associated with you. Blogging for sure is one but so is the words writer, creator, boss, motivated, supportive etc. You’re so many different things!
Awh thank you! For you, I’d say cats, art, supportive and advocate!
I find this a fascinating read, Jenny, and love the tag cloud style banner you made highlighting what you came away with to think over!
thank you! 🙂
This was fun to read! The blogging community is so supportive so I’m not surprised at all of the positive words. It would be interesting to find out what people associate with me, but I’m almost scared to ask lol.
Thank you! They really are so supportive x
aw this is such a lovely idea! It’s fun to see what various people in your life associate with you and whether they are similar or complete opposites x
It really is! Was an interesting experiment!
Such an interesting idea! I remember we did a similar experiment in school and I was called warm! I think that could be a great word to describe you too. Thanks for sharing this idea Jenny!
Awh thank you! Yes it does seem like a good experiment to do in schools, doesn’t it?
This is such a fun post! It’s always interesting to see what other people think of us
Thank you – sure is!
OMG! This is such a sweet post, Jenny! I associate you with friendliness! I always love seeing you on my timeline and seeing your beautiful photos on Instagram and twitter! I wish I could meet all my twitter friends one day hehe I think one thing people would associate me with is maybe creativity haha I’m always creating new things! I love that chicken wings is something you’re associated with! I swear my parents would say the same thing about me! xx
Lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
Awhh thank you! That means the world! I would LOVE to meet my Twitter friends one day – if you ever fancy a trip to London, hit me up! I think for you, I’d associate food (because of all your lovely recipes), neutrals and creativity xxx
Brilliant blog post. Lovely way to learn new things about someone.
Thank you – sure is!
good posts about yourself
Thank you
I laughed out loud to the chicken wings. I also eat lots of chicken wings especially hot ones 😂
Hahaha it’s a bit of a running joke in my family now. Spicy wings are the BEST!
I didn’t know you loved F1!!! Why is this brand new information to me! I love F1! Love this post, I think people associate me with books and that’s a fair assumption 😂
YES I LOVE IT! We need to have a chat, pronto!
What an interesting idea! I think for me it would be too dangerous to ask what people associate with me, haha — but I might give it a try! Fab post (I like how your Dad just goes a bit rogue)!
Awh definitely not, you’ll be surprised! Hahaha I know, I mean, he’s not wrong, I am his daughter haha!
Really liked reading this 🙂 Such a fun idea – I might have a try xx
Thank you! You should! x
This was such a lovely read. I am going to take a leaf out of your book and ask those close to me what they associate with me!
Rosie
Thank you! Yesss you should. I’d associate you with glamour (because you always look glamorous in your blog photos!), florals and nail polish haha! xxx
I love this! What a great thing to do. I want to do it now with my friends!
You totally should, it’s so much fun!
Really good article as ever and I would say that your word cloud is pretty much how you come across. It’s interesting, of course, to throw this question open to your online friends because online is where we curate a version of ourselves that tends to show some of the picture but not all. I’m not saying there’s a dark side to you – although there might be! 😉 – but to some extent all I know from your blogs is that you are very perceptive and thought provoking.
Not sure what people would say about me, if anything. They might reference my music reviews, but I’m not sure I really want to try it out yet!
Thank you! I’m really glad 🙂 I totally agree too, although I’d like to think that I come across similar IRL as I do online. Of course I do put on a certain element of an online persona but I don’t think it’s too far from what I’m actually like!
Aww I loved reading through this, it’s lovely to know how people perceive you xx
Thank you! xx
Loved reading this! And can only say again that you’re very kind and supportive if everyone in the blogging community! I think they would probably say books, stubborn and massive coffee drinker! Really need to go and ask, quite curious to hear the answers x
Thank you! Awh thank you so much. You should definitely ask, it’s fun! I’d associate coffee and books with you DEFINTIELY!
Love this, my husband would probably say sleep about me too 🤣🤣🤣
I always find other people’s perceptions fascinating
Haha it was one of the first things my boyfriend said about me. Like, he’s not wrong!
Hi Jenny, I love this post! What a clever post idea. I love that your mum said chicken wings as they are my favourite! Thanks for sharing! Alicia
Thank you! Haha it’s a bit of a running joke in my family now, the amount of chicken wings I eat!