This Is What I Do

In the process of teaching a class on personality theories over the last four weeks I have come to understand the secret behind by blog blocks. I do not have a creative mind, or an imaginative mind, or an expressive mind. It is a struggle for me to create something from nothing. My mind uses the past as a reference for making current and future decisions. Not that I am stuck or fixated in the past, but previous experience is my compass. Show me how it has been done before or how how someone else has done it. Once I have a picture of what has been before I can take it recreate it, improve it, and make it my own. I have an analytical mind. I THINK about stuff all the time. Creative thought drains my energy. It is exhausting, frustrating, and often leaves me feeling incompetent and well a little . . .bored. Do not despair for me those two or three of you who actually read this blog, and do have a brain that relishes being creative. While I may not be creative, I am INVENTIVE and I really get of a lot of satisfaction of taking things from the past and reinventing them. So here are a few things I have learned over the last four weeks.

I am an introvert. I love being around one or two people at a time, but groups, large crowds, and parties are exhausting. I do not require a lot of stimulation. Therefore, I understand that I CANNOT truly focus on more than one thing at a time. A space of my own is a MUST for studying and class preparation. I have to be away from all the distractions (laundry, dishes, talking children, chatty husband) or I will have to read the same paragraph ten times. But in preparing that place for myself I can take an old kitchen table and use it for a desk, without feeling like the office has invaded my bedroom. And, I saved lots of money by not buying a pre-fabed, put it together yourself, and don't you dare ever move it, desk from Wal-Mart.

I am a thinking person. I analyze the situation and operate from the facts, but I don't need to over analyze a situation. For me it is easy to see how one can take something from the past and change it and make it something with a new, useful purpose. Like taking a perfectly good $50 kitchen table that was too big to fulfill its desired purpose as a desk, and turn it into a very practical, yet beautiful coffee table. Not only did I use my superior analytical skills to solve the missing coffee table dilemma, but I also solved the, "how in the heck do you get a coffee table to not look like a bench next to a seven foot couch problem." Ta-Dah! Problem solved.

I am a sensible person which means I use a lot of common sense and practical solutions that have clear and concrete answers. Thus I know from past experience that when one's brain is foggy because they are trying to read or write class notes at 10:00pm there is a sure fire way to lift the brain fog and restore stimulation to the drained brain waves.

I am a person who relies on sound judgement. I plan details (I have to have all the details together before I can make a plan). I naturally rely on routine and goals to reduce stress and anxiety.

Which is why I am SO glad the keys on the computer keyboard never change. At least I can rely on them when nothing else works. With their steadfast presence I can tolerate testy computer software, human error, or graphics that will not download when I want them to, and interfere with my carefully thought out plan, making it feel more like I am always making it up as I go along. Which I am not because my personality profile says I most definitely DO NOT DO THAT~ And we all know that personality profiles place you in a well defined, unbendable, unchangeable box that defines exactly how and who you are and they are NEVER, NEVER wrong.