The Proust Questionnaire

On this, the occasion of my 26th birthday, I decided to take a rudimentary personality test. The Proust Questionnaire, a series of questions that, if you really think about them, may produce some surprising answers, seemed like a logical way to feed this part of my “Quarter Life Crisis” (I hate that term). So hey, take it yourself. No big deal. You may just learn something.

THE PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Seeing the entire world and learning something new every day.
2. What is your greatest fear?
Not living up to my potential.
3. Which living person do you most admire?
My mom. The more I think about it, the more impressed I am.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I talk too much.
5. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Hypocrisy.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Shoes.
7. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
“Telling it like it is”
8. Which living person do you most despise?
George W. Bush
9. What is your greatest regret?
I move around too much to have a dog.
10. When and where were you happiest?
Cuddling all morning with my girl in my arms.
11. Which talent would you most like to have?
To play a musical instrument – any instrument.
12. What is your current state of mind?
Relaxed and happy, with a healthy dose of anxiety over how to earn enough money to eventually have kids.
13. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Figuring out who I am.
14. If you could choose what to come back as, what would it be?
Any oppressed person, to know what it takes to fight back.
15. What is your most treasured possession?
My journal. By far.
16. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Making a mistake so grave that you can’t even see how to learn from it.
17. What is your favorite occupation?
Professional bike racer.
18. What is your most marked characteristic?
I am a chameleon – I can be happy in so many situations.
19. What is the quality you most like in a man?
Humility.
20. What is the quality you most admire in a woman?
Self-confidence.
21. What do you most value in your friends?
Low-maintenance and independent.
22. How would you like to die?
Old and in love.