{"id":379668,"date":"2012-08-05T04:22:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-05T04:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/05\/personality-perils\/"},"modified":"2012-08-05T04:22:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-05T04:22:00","slug":"personality-perils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/05\/personality-perils\/","title":{"rendered":"Personality Perils"},"content":{"rendered":"
This post from the archives seems appropriate as I watch my teens and twenty-year-old continue to grow into the men and women they are going to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

The idiosyncrasies. The strengths. The weaknesses…<\/span><\/p>\n

After our Thanksgiving meal a few years back, our family conversation somehow landed on the topic of personality traits. Each of us seems to be bent toward a particular action.<\/span><\/p>\n

Caretaker<\/em> and fixer<\/em> are the two types our nine members discussed around the dinner table.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have thought often about my inherent nature. What I have discovered is this: I am the problem solver, the fixer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many a dilemma places me on a path of contemplation and brainstorming, sometimes to a fault… <\/span>
<\/span>
I first discovered this about myself three-and-a-half years ago. The work I loved had been restructured–my position obliterated–moving me from an active, on-my-feet and creative role, to a sedentary, non-innovative chore.<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew I wanted to make a change. But should I? And, what?<\/span><\/p>\n

These were the questions rattling around in my brain as I faced the ensuing changes.<\/span>
<\/span>
Within two weeks of my boss’ notification, I received a phone call from a local organization who was looking for a manager for one of their departments.<\/span><\/p>\n

My name had come up in their meetings, as a person who not only had experience in the field but would be an asset to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

They were inquiring about my employment status: Was I employed? Would I consider a change?<\/span>
<\/span>
The stars had aligned, the universe had graced me with a potential job–precisely when I needed one–and a big ego boost, to boot. <\/span>
<\/span>
The group needed a part-time person right away, and the job and I seemed tailor-made for one another.<\/span><\/p>\n

The position afforded great flexibility, a program needed to be created, facilitated, and implemented, and it happened to be in a specialized field in which I had expertise.<\/span><\/p>\n

But after the phone conversation, a nagging tugged within me. The workload description did not fit the quantifier part-time<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of that I felt confident. To the contrary, it would likely have included many full-time-plus weeks.<\/span>
<\/span>
A longstanding, months-long, community wide series of events was about to begin, and the group was suddenly without a supervisor. Additionally, the organization had been discussing new, long-range objectives, and they needed an innovative person to help move them forward with their planning and implementation.<\/span>
<\/span>
Forty-plus-hours did not fit into my active household schedule. I knew specifically what I wanted and needed, both for myself and for my family.<\/span><\/p>\n

A polite, Thanks, but no thanks<\/em>, should have been the end of the interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet I grappled with my decision, even more so, after the face-to-face that had me believing the company was telling me everything I wanted to hear, simply to bring me on board.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not that they were misleading me, intentionally. But, I do believe the urgency of their needs clouded their discussions and thought process.<\/span>
<\/span>
The universe sent me this job. They had no way of knowing I was thinking about changing employment. The heavens literally opened up and plopped this position right into my lap.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This line of thinking was justified and augmented by the fact that I hadn’t worked in this field for six years.<\/span><\/p>\n

I understood the image bolstering part of my decision making dilemma. But ego would not be the crux of my angst.<\/span>
<\/span>
From the onset, I had discussed this situation with a good friend, and shared this last frustration with her.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m guessing they know I will get the job done, regardless of how many hours it takes…fortitude…diligence… They know I won’t quit until the project is completed.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know I’m that way, and I don’t want to invest that sort of time right now.”<\/span>
<\/span>
“Then why are you having such a hard time saying, ‘no’?<\/span>
<\/span>
“Because they are desperate. They need someone immediately, and–“<\/span>
<\/span>
“And, that’s your<\/em> problem, why<\/em>?”<\/span>
<\/span>
Oh, my sage, sage, friend, whose question landed in my lap, much like the job offer had…<\/span>
<\/span>
Therein lay the heart of my dilemma, pumping life into my conflict.<\/span>
<\/span>
These people had a problem. I had the resources, much of the experience needed, the skill, not to mention the ambition and drive and dedication to help them. And, they had come to me<\/em> for assistance.<\/em> <\/span>
<\/span>
I was making their plight my problem.<\/span>
<\/span>
To the detriment of my private and familial needs… The fault part of my otherwise constructive, problem-solver being…<\/span>
<\/span>
My own little personality peril… The epiphany provided me a golden nugget of self-awareness knowledge, an ounce of wisdom…<\/span>
<\/span>
What drives you?<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you a fixer? A peacekeeper? A caretaker?<\/span><\/p>\n

What personality peril(s) causes you conflict?<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you unearthed it yet, or does it lie dormant?<\/span>
<\/span>
Soon…<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post from the archives seems appropriate as I watch my teens and twenty-year-old continue to grow into the men and women they are going to be. The idiosyncrasies. The strengths. The weaknesses… After our Thanksgiving meal a few years back, our family conversation somehow landed on the topic of personality traits. Each of us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[117,118,119,120,404,121,405,122,123,69],"class_list":["post-379668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-caretaker","tag-employment","tag-fixer","tag-job-change","tag-job-restructuring","tag-personality","tag-personality-characteristics","tag-personality-peril","tag-personality-trait","tag-the-five-facets"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}