“When you let go of
everything you think you know and just trust, life has a way of working itself
out that’s better than you could ever imagine.” ~Jackson Kiddard
If you’d asked me at 18
where I thought I’d be at 32, I’d have confidently (and naively) told you: “Married
with kids.”
If you’d asked me at
25 where I thought I’d be at 32, I’d have confidently (and naively) told you: “Anywhere
but married with kids.”
If you ask me now, at
31, where I think I’ll be at 32, I’ll tell you: “I have no idea, but I’m
excited to find out.”
***
My co-workers and I
were asked to take a Myers-Briggs personality test last week, and we received
our results at yesterday’s department retreat.
I’m an ESFJ (extrovert,
sensor, feeler, judger). Supposedly, mine is the most harmonizing of all personality
types, a “Hostess of the World” who’s gracious, thoughtful, and eager to
please.
And although I tested
strongly in nearly every category, I definitely have introverted, intuitive,
thinker personality characteristics.
I’m not, however, a
perceiver. (I mean, I’m perceptive!, but I’m not a perceiver.)
Perceivers “prefer a
flexible, spontaneous way of life,” and judgers, like me, “prefer a planned,
decided, orderly way of life.”
Yes, PLEASE, on the
latter! The former makes me anxious (to the point of panic attacks), and I
avoid it whenever possible.
***
But life has a way of
throwing curve balls, doesn’t it? And at some point, regardless of your
personality type, you’re going to have to take them in stride (or, as my good
friend Amy says: “Roll with it!”).
It’s never going to
be as easy for me to “roll with it” as it is for others, but I'm making an effort to try.
Recently, a couple curve balls were thrown my way. Not bad, devastating, you’re-making-me-hate-my-life
curve balls, but curve balls all the same.
And my first reaction
is to shy—or, more accurately, run like hell—away from them.
Why? Because they’re
disrupting my carefully-laid plans. The ones with who, when, where, why, and
how defined exactly.
But really, where’s
the fun in that?! (Wow. I just said that. And I actually mean it!)
***
Life is full of
beauty. The crazy thing is, that beauty shows itself in unexpected places at unexpected
times. In a sunset after a brutal storm. In a stranger’s smile. In a house made
into a home. In a friend who becomes family. And in unconventional, sometimes
uncomfortable, experiences that force you to grow, to open your mind, body, and
heart to new possibilities.
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