We all have a favorite color. What’s pink for you is blue for me. You like yellow Volkswagen Beatles, and I like blue Mini Coopers. You like oranges, your roommate likes blueberries. Have you ever wondered if there is a correlation between some of your personality traits and the meanings associated with your favorite color? Let’s check it out!
Red
What do you think of when you think of the color red? It could be a stop sign or a fire truck. Most commonly, people associate the color red with excitement, passion, love, speed and power—basically anything that is intense and passionate.
When I was young, my dad pastored a church that was suit-and-tie-every-Sunday style. Whenever he would have to confront an issue with a member of the church, he would wear a red tie. He told me that red was associated with power, and it conveyed confidence and assertiveness. From that point, I started to wear red as my power color.
Pink
Pink is that color that is traditionally a “girl” color. That’s not the only reason this color is great! The pink ribbons you’ll see throughout this month (and every October) symbolize Breast Cancer Awareness! Her Campus’s colors are even pink and black!
Even though pink is considered the color of love and romance, and it’s soft and sweet and dainty, don’t let anyone tell you it makes you weak. Do you consider Breast Cancer survivors weak? No? Didn’t think so.
Yellow
Normally, we think of yellow as the color of the sun; therefore, all who like the color yellow are optimistic and sunny. They wake up looking like women in a Neutrogena ad. While yellow is the color of optimism, joy, happiness, and other “sunny” feelings, yellow can also represent dishonesty, cowardice, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, and hazard.
Blue
Do you picture the sky or a clear, blue ocean when you think of the color blue? Maybe you think of Blue from Blue’s Clues. When I mentioned those few blue things, did you notice what kind of emotions you associated with the color?
Blue symbolizes more cool emotions, like peace, tranquility, and calmness. Blue carries a confidence that is less evasive than red or yellow. Blue symbolizes trust, unity, and harmony, among many others.
Purple
When I was younger, my church had these Girls Clubs. I was a member of Bluebelles and Joybelles. We had to each memorize the color symbolism for our club’s colors. The color that always stuck with me was purple.
Purple symbolizes royalty, transformation, spirituality, enlightenment, and wisdom. On the opposite end of the character spectrum, this color can also represent cruelty, arrogance, and mourning.
Orange
Orange, which is our primary school color, has an interesting meaning. Orange represents energy, balance, enthusiasm, warmth, and vibrancy. Do you find your Wesleyan home a place of energy and warmth?
Green
Green is a natural color. Walk outside, especially here on campus, and you’ll see green everywhere! Green represents health and renewal, youth and fertility. Green also represents jealousy, inexperience, envy, and misfortune.
Brown
Brown ties in with green as a natural color—a color of the earth. Brown is a color associated with the home. Brown is reliable and comfortable. It is enduring. Brown is simple.
Black
Ladies like little black dresses for a reason! Black is the color of sexuality, sophistication, formality, and elegance. Black exudes a certain mystery with it. Black is a color of mourning and death in western cultures (hence why we tend to wear it to funerals in the United States). Black is associated with things that are evil, fear, unhappiness, sadness, remorse, and anger.
Did you notice that many of these colors have dark sides to their bright sides? There are pros and cons to everything in life. All of the people, things, and situations that we meet in life aren’t always as they seem. We look at people and think, “They are perfect. They have no problems.” Well, they, and we, are all colors. We are purple’s enlightenment and purple’s cruelty. We are black’s sophistication and black’s remorse. We are brown’s earth and green’s envy. Colors describe us wonderfully.
Did you find your favorite color among these? Which color do you most identify with? Leave a comment below!