The WordPress/JetPack writing prompt for today is:
Do you think we’re shaped more by our experiences or by who we are?

Another way of saying “Do you think we’re shaped more by our experiences or by who we are?” is which side of the “Nature vs Nurture” debate do you fall on. And my answer, without taking an easy out, is both.

My parents taught me to read when I was quite young. That experience gave me a head start in school. Would I have taken to reading if I didn’t have a genetic propensity for reading? Maybe not. Would I have taken to reading without the experience of having my parents guide me through it? Probably not; you can’t accomplish what you don’t know exists, even if you have the inherent skills.

Yes, there are inherent (genetic, if you will) elements to how you are who you are. Just consider your health. Some of us are born with strong constitutions that not only give us good health, but allow us to fight off illnesses, some are born frail and susceptible to ailments. If you spent your childhood ill, or in and out of medical care (assuming the wealth), these experiences would greatly impact your world view.

I have always been an introvert, and would gladly live my life as a recluse. But I’ve spent much of my adult life fighting that pull. Becoming an ESL teacher absolutely forced me to be much more social than how I perceive myself. Moving to a variety of different countries and cultures forced me to be more than a recluse.

But the recluse tendency, whether set in childhood or genetic, whichever it may be, has re-asserted itself.

I was born with a hole in my heart, but, as my family doctor always said, I apparently have a ‘strong constitution.’ The hole in my heart was not found when I was a child, it was discovered well into my 50s. It did not impact much of my life, did not define me. By the time I faced open-heart surgery, I was a confident adult. However, the recovery period coincided with the arrival of COVID, and psychologically facing a pandemic with a weakened immune system drove me back into being a recluse.

Even still, six years later, I work from home. I can go days without ever leaving the property, without interacting with anyone other than my wife. This may not sound healthy but this is who, by my nature, I am. I’ve fought it, for decades, and as of now, it’s won.

And yet, I’m not just the recluse I was apparently born to be. I’m also the person who lived in Africa for almost five years (just under 2 in Namibia and almost 3 in South Africa) while working for educational charities. I’m the guy who shot a documentary in Uganda, on the border of the DRC. I’m the traveller who’s been to thirty-seven countries, and lived in six. These aren’t the stats of a recluse.