The "About Me"

Hobbies? Interests? Activities? What do you do for fun?

Four questions that seem to describe the default "about me" section of any profile. These would be the perfect outline for anyone's description except for one small detail--they are all pretty much the same question! Let's say for example that I'm interested in singing. Hmm what might one of my hobbies or activities be then? Singing perhaps? There are exceptions of course but as I peruse an "about me" section, most of the time these are repeated items. Which is fine of course, but then how much are you telling people about you?

The other great part about these sections is how most people have the same things under their questions: reading, music, movies, outdoors, sports, blah blah blah. That is quite fascinating that we are all the same according to these responses. I call this the standard response of "I don't really think about all the stuff I like and do all the time, but I know I do these at some point so I'll write them here".

Here's a sample of what might be a "standard A" response:

Interests: music, movies, sunshine, biking, reading, animals

Hobbies: singing, collecting Harry Potter books, hunting

Activities: choir, sleeping

For Fun?: video games, friends, family, watching movies

I know this doesn't speak for everyone, but if I put this, I wouldn't necessarily stand out in a crowd because it's not "eye-opening" or exciting.

Here's an example of one might put to show how unique they are:

Interests: death metal, sharks, rainbows, theater

Hobbies: collecting candy wrappers, Pez collector, running 5K

Activities: eating chicken nuggets, writing novels, chopping wood

For Fun?: laser tag, downhill skiing, skydiving

Yes I made this up, but even though it is quite strange, it is far more descriptive and shows how quirky this person is.

I guess I'm not as interesting as the made up individual, but as "unique" as our descriptions may seem to the writer, in a sea of "unique" people, we generally fit under a Standard A description. So the next time you have to fill out an "about me"section, be creative! Be exciting! And don't follow the manual's hidden directions. :-)