Personality Environment Type: The Forest

Hey y'all.  Another personality environment thingy.  I like doing these things.  They're fun.  In any case, I'm going to go with the forests for now, because it's sort of similar to the "outer space" type, and that's what I am.  Because this is a personality typology thing in progress, I'm going to save the environments I'm least familiar with for later, assuming that I'll be able to talk to more people in the future. 

So please help.  Write the environment you feel inspired by, drawn to, or just plain prefer to live at.  It can be something like space, forests, deserts, the city, the deep ocean, the beach, suburbia, or something else I might not have mentioned by is an important place to you.  Tell me a little about you, if you like.

But for now, forests!

People who like forests:

- are generally quiet and reflective.
- feel a longing for the past.
- appreciate pleasant, peaceful art.
- are generally unpretentious.
- can be cult-like or overly mystical.
- are very offended by threats to their environment.

Forests are related to the outer space types much in the same way that fantasy is related to science fiction.  Both of these writing genres are related to a longing for a different period of time, where certain unbelievable things are possible and modernity is not.  Though where science fiction is future oriented, fantasy is past oriented.  Those who like forests feel a longing for a past and a desire to live more off the land than people generally do these days.  They don't have to be hippie forest dwellers or rednecks shooting for food, they just prefer a more natural existence.



This is where the forest comes from in the minds of those with forest personality.  It's a symbol of the past, particularly in Celtic influenced areas.  Trees live for long periods of time, house many creatures, and can be used to carve names of loved ones for future generations.  Thus trees have obtained a feel of longevity, and also feelings of love and generosity.  Trees not only provide breathable air when in the ground, they also are usable when cut down in all manner of products and shelters.  Though to be fair, forest types don't see the trees merely as one tree next to another, and then another next to that.  The forest is an entire entity, "people" group, or field, much in the same way that the ocean is one entity.  They do not seek to gain much from trees, but see the value of a tree as it is. 

The light of a forest is usually its most dominating factor.  Bright light streams down through the leaves, creating a sheltered cheer.  Other times, forests are dim and foggy, leaving a traveler feeling haunted and lost.  These represent both sides of the forest type: the cheerful, life-giving side that only wants people to be happy, and the angry, glowering side that is suspicious of strangers with bad motivations.  However, like the forest itself, forest types are rarely directly violent.

Forest types tend to be quiet and untalkative.  This is due to the fact that they prefer looking to speaking, and love to feel and enjoy where they are.  Also, when one is loud in the forest, one can't appreciate it.  The loud person in the forest scares away animals and can't hear the sound of the wind in the leaves.  He focuses too much on words and not enough on the deer in the wood or the mushroom on the ground.  The forest type enjoys every single element of the forest, and finds it more convenient to wait until outside the woods to speak much.  This represents that forest types aren't necessarily introverted, but rather good at knowing when to talk and when to listen.

Forest people can be artistic, but not at all in a modern sense.  They don't particularly care for modern art, or art in generally that is more metaphorical than literal.  They like paintings that create a beautiful or comforting environment to paintings that are trying to make some sort of overblown point.  They appreciate beauty for itself, and see no particular reason to slander nature by making pretentious metaphysical points.  A tree is a tree, not a bendy, twisty, neon orange line over an explosion of triangles.  This is where they differ most from the outer space types.  Spacers like neons, but to a forest type, nothing is an improvement over nature.

The main potential flaw with the forest type is that they can develop weirdo beliefs.  They risk becoming overly spiritual, thinking that everything has a spirit.  Or they get caught up in philosophies of death (think rationalizing hunting deer for food), or making friends with wolves, or building some sort of hippie commune.  This can make them...interesting to talk to.  However, they generally mean well, and usually prefer not to interfere with others. This is the reference to the fantasy side of the forest type, which longs for the past and natural innocence, as well as beauty in unexpected and hidden ways.  They savor the hidden treasure of nature, imagining for themselves secret worlds behind the next tree, in the light reflecting off of a bog, and in the deepest parts of the forest.  Forest types are optimistic, in the sense that there is beauty to be found even in a potentially gloomy wilderness.

This makes their secondary flaw less harmful to others but more harmful to themselves: they generally feel themselves capable to handle their environment.  This is comparable to how the outer space type generally imagines himself immune to the affects of space while he thinks of it, except that forest types can actually go to their environ.  While in some cases the forest person is competent, when you hear stories of people trying to live with bears, the problem becomes obvious.  There are all sorts of hazards in the forest, like getting lost, falling out of trees, provoking animals, and whatnot.

Thing is, there is a subconscious feeling for all environment types that the person in question is native to their environ.  This can result in them being too overconfident in their ability to survive.  All types should remember that there is always an obvious and present danger wherever they are.  The danger might change, but it is always there.  Which is probably why people like their environs so much.  To the forest type, however, the forest is far less mentally and spiritually dangerous than the world outside (physical danger being a lower priority).  And definitely less confusing.