{"id":379719,"date":"2010-12-04T16:16:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-04T16:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2010\/12\/04\/a-personality-peril\/"},"modified":"2010-12-04T16:16:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-04T16:16:00","slug":"a-personality-peril","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2010\/12\/04\/a-personality-peril\/","title":{"rendered":"A Personality Peril"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After the Thanksgiving meal, our family conversation somehow landed on the topic of personality traits. Each of us seems to be bent toward a particular action. Caretaker<\/em> and fixer<\/em> are the two types our nine members discussed around the dinner table. I have thought often about my inherent nature. What I have discovered is this: I am the problem solver, the fixer. Many a dilemma places me on a path of contemplation and brainstorming, sometimes to a fault… <\/p>\n

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. I knew I wanted to make a change. But should I? And, what? These were the questions rattling around in my brain as I faced the ensuing changes.<\/p>\n

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. 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. They were inquiring about my employment status: Was I employed? Would I consider a change?<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

The group needed a part-time person right away, and the job and I seemed tailor-made for one another. 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. But after the phone conversation, a nagging tugged within me. The workload description did not fit the quantifier part-time<\/em>. Of that I felt confident. To the contrary, it would likely have included many full-time-plus weeks.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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. A polite, Thanks, but no thanks<\/em>, should have been the end of the interview. 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. Not that they were misleading me, intentionally. But, I do believe the urgency of their needs clouded their discussions and thought process.<\/p>\n

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.<\/em> This line of thinking was justified and augmented by the fact that I hadn’t worked in this field for six years. I understood the image bolstering part of my decision making dilemma. But ego would not be the crux of my angst.<\/p>\n

From the onset, I had discussed this situation with a good friend, and shared this last frustration with her. “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. I know I’m that way, and I don’t want to invest that sort of time right now.”<\/p>\n

“Then why are you having such a hard time saying, ‘no’?<\/p>\n

“Because they are desperate. They need someone immediately, and–“<\/p>\n

“And, that’s your<\/em> problem, why<\/em>?”<\/p>\n

Oh, my sage, sage, friend, whose question landed in my lap, much like the job offer had…<\/p>\n

There in lied the heart of my dilemma, pumping life into my conflict. 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> <\/p>\n

I was making their plight my problem. To the detriment of my private and familial needs… There in lies the fault part of my otherwise constructive, problem-solver being… My own little personality peril… The epiphany provided me a golden nugget of self-awareness knowledge, an ounce of wisdom…<\/p>\n

What drives you? Are you a fixer? A peacekeeper? A caretaker? What personality peril(s) causes you conflict? Have you unearthed it yet, or does it lie dormant?<\/p>\n

Soon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the Thanksgiving meal, our family conversation somehow landed on the topic of personality traits. Each of us seems to be bent toward a particular action. Caretaker and fixer are the two types our nine members discussed around the dinner table. I have thought often about my inherent nature. What I have discovered is this: […]<\/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":[117,118,119,19,120,121,122,123,124,115,125,69],"class_list":["post-379719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-caretaker","tag-employment","tag-fixer","tag-inspiration","tag-job-change","tag-personality","tag-personality-peril","tag-personality-trait","tag-problem-solver","tag-self-awarenesss","tag-thanksgiving","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\/379719","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=379719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}