I am seriously Type A. I believe Mitch is too, but I am sure he doesn't think so because he pretends to be laid back and mellow. Wrong. I think I called him high strung once and he was a little baffled, then shrugged and laughed because he knew in the end it was very true. Enough about Mitch and on to my point...
Yesterday at work we had to stuff all of these reusable water bottles with a post card that has our company info on it. I like to figure out the most productive way to do things, so I tried a couple different methods until I settled on one. About 2 boxes in (out of 10) one of the other girls in the office volunteered to help. Actually she just picked up some of the flyers and started chatting and placing them in bottles. She totally wasn't using my system and it was absolutely killing me, but I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that she was helping. WOOO SAHHH.
Well if she was going to help, I at least was going to do it better and faster than she was. I was stuffing with the precision and speed of an Olympian. Pick up with left hand, pass to right hand and bend in a cylinder in one motion (while sending left hand back over to pick another one up), pop in the bottle; I was knocking them out. Samantha on the other hand was more interested in chatting than stuffing. She was Casey’s onion cutting to my Hung’s chicken deboning.
The first box I managed to finish 30 to her 20. I was on fire. The next box she caught on to my competitive spirit and picked up the pace. I still managed to knock out 27 to her 24. She finally looked up and said, "Is it still a competition if the other person doesn't care who wins?" and laughed.
Oh baby, this is the real world, it's always a competition.
Final Count - Stephenie 111 / Samantha 89.
I wonder, can I ever turn it off or is it always going to be there burning and churning inside me? Quite frankly, is it a bad thing to channel your inner Monica Geller? It does make it tough to be “luggage” as my husband calls it when he is just going with the flow. But I am not sure I would like being luggage. I know there is a place for both and a balance would be wonderful, but is a balance achievable?
Yesterday at work we had to stuff all of these reusable water bottles with a post card that has our company info on it. I like to figure out the most productive way to do things, so I tried a couple different methods until I settled on one. About 2 boxes in (out of 10) one of the other girls in the office volunteered to help. Actually she just picked up some of the flyers and started chatting and placing them in bottles. She totally wasn't using my system and it was absolutely killing me, but I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that she was helping. WOOO SAHHH.
Well if she was going to help, I at least was going to do it better and faster than she was. I was stuffing with the precision and speed of an Olympian. Pick up with left hand, pass to right hand and bend in a cylinder in one motion (while sending left hand back over to pick another one up), pop in the bottle; I was knocking them out. Samantha on the other hand was more interested in chatting than stuffing. She was Casey’s onion cutting to my Hung’s chicken deboning.
The first box I managed to finish 30 to her 20. I was on fire. The next box she caught on to my competitive spirit and picked up the pace. I still managed to knock out 27 to her 24. She finally looked up and said, "Is it still a competition if the other person doesn't care who wins?" and laughed.
Oh baby, this is the real world, it's always a competition.
Final Count - Stephenie 111 / Samantha 89.
I wonder, can I ever turn it off or is it always going to be there burning and churning inside me? Quite frankly, is it a bad thing to channel your inner Monica Geller? It does make it tough to be “luggage” as my husband calls it when he is just going with the flow. But I am not sure I would like being luggage. I know there is a place for both and a balance would be wonderful, but is a balance achievable?
1 comment:
In most areas of my life I’m a “go with the flow” kind of girl. However, at work I’m surrounded by a group of “Mother Earth” women’s health education professionals. This forces me to be more decisive and in charge, even, at times, type A. Our office recently took personality tests. They were convinced that I’d be a “thinking” personality type: logical, analytical, etc. However the test results suggested that I am a “feeling” type, more person-centered in my approach. Their perception of me as a part-time employee functioning in the role that I’ve been forced to assume as a result of their natural tendencies (dare I say deficiencies?) is far different than who I really am in my time away from work.
I think you are fairly competitive in every aspect of your life, but perhaps it shows up in different ways depending on what “hat” you are wearing. There are stages of life that you’ve not yet experienced, parenthood being one of them. In the 17.5 years of parenting my children I’ve always hoped for the best and provided all that I could to contribute to their success. I feel like I’ve put a tremendous amount of effort into raising my girls. I’ve been the opposite of the absentee parent. However I have found that all of the pushing, prayer, control and “burning and churning” in the world doesn’t keep my teenagers from sometimes making poor decisions and mistakes. Future parenthood is a good reason to try and incorporate balance in the area of the expectation of perfection. As the Robert Burns poem says: “The best laid plans of Mice and Men often go awry”. That doesn’t mean you don’t push your children and expect success from them. It just means that you can’t let yourself be crushed when things don’t go according to your plan. (Mostly preaching to myself here) I think that Monica Geller even softened a bit when faced with the prospect of parenting twins.
One more thing: when I was living in my parent’s home I would, from time-to-time come across things that needed to be done and take the initiative to do them without being asked. I’m a “doer”. One example is folding the bath towels. Before I figured out my Mother’s complex system of folding the bath towels I would just fold the bloody things and think, “Job well done”. She would come behind me and tell me that they weren’t folded correctly and proceed to unfold and refold them to her specifications. Sometimes a folded towel is a folded towel and you should be grateful for the help instead of turning it into a competition. My view of the thing is that Samantha from the office has the right idea on life. Enjoy the ride while trying to accomplish the goal at hand. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
The bottom line is that I think balance is achievable and even desirable. You are most comfortable being the victorious Alpha Dog. It is sort of what makes you adorable, though sometimes intimidating for those of us who’ve realized that total control and “winning” in every area of life is something that is not probable.
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