So I'm reading Generation Me, which is, omg, soo good. And anyways I just finished reading a chapter on the whole "teaching self-esteem in schools" thing and how it has probably led to more narcissism than actual self-esteem. So basically we are all narcissistic?
Well, I thought about that. And I decided that I probably think I have too many flaws to be a narcissist. Besides that, I'm kind of a perfectionist? Which while it sounds like it should be comparable to narcissism, really isn't. But still, I felt like I had to find out if I was really a narcissist.... so I did what you do in the 21st century when you want to find out who you are - I TOOK AN INTERNET QUIZ!! (Haha yes that was supposed to be either sarcastic or ironic or tongue-in-cheek... I'm not sure which because I'm still not entirely sure what tongue-in-cheek humor is. Someone care to fill me in?)
And blah-de-blah-blah, this quiz at beliefnet.com tells me that out of a possible 120 I scored a 25 on the narcissism scale. Um, hi. That's really low. That's like scoring 21%. And okay, it's great that I'm not a narcissist (but I kind of already knew that and while we're at it, why don't these quizzes ever tell me something about myself that I don't already know?) but seriously - 21%? I may as well be in negative numbers here!
The question is, does my low narcissism rating equal low self-esteem? (To this I go back to the wonderous internets for another quiz that will tell me what I already know!) My self-esteem rating is, according to the DiscoveryHealth website, 68 out of 100. Woot! But I could have told you that. I'm not sure if I have "high" or "low" self-esteem, but I'm pretty sure whatever it is, it's healthy enough. I mean I don't go around thinking I'm worthless or anything, but I also don't think I'm the most important person on the planet. But um, what was my point going to be? I should take a forgetfulness test... I'm pretty sure I could score 100% on that.
Anyways, along with this whole "narcissism" theme, I was looking at Teen magazine a few days ago, because it was there and Psychology Today wasn't, and I saw this poll. The poll asked readers if they would rather bring about world peace or become billionaires. And hopefully this will surprise you guys as much as it surprised me, but about 50-something% of them said they'd rather be billionaires than bring world peace. (prepare for flagrant sarcasm) Woo! Way to care way more about yourself than about the rest of humanity! Brownie points for narcissism!!
Haha. And for any of you who want to see if where you fall on the narcissistic and self-esteem scale, here are the links to the quizzes:
Narcissism Quiz
Self-Esteem Quiz