The Big 150: 5, Relationships - What is something not many people understand about you?
Hmm. Well, this is quite a ponder-ful question. Ponder, ponder, ponder. I am pondering. Look at how intensely I ponder.
Something many people might not understand about me? Something not many people understand about me? Those feel like two different questions. Are they? Or am I just stalling while looking for the answer? THE answer? Sheesh, AN answer will do!
How many of us even understand ourselves, really? Ok ok, sorry sorry, I am stalling. Guilty as charged.
Something that people might not understand about me is that I am actually an introvert - an INFJ to be exact (ya know, if the whole Myers-Briggs personality test is something you buy into).
This usually surprises people because I’m a pretty social being, but that’s because I am an extroverted introvert. Ah-ha, a loophole! I love performing musical improv with my gal pals, hosting our monthly show where we book other teams of wonderful people to come play with us, and I enjoy playing basketball with my guy friends, working out while having fun. I very much enjoy being part of a team, joining a club, and immersing myself in social settings. I crave being around people where I can have deep and meaningful conversations or participate in a shared, loved activity.
HOWEVER - I also love solitude, and I’m not always sure when it’ll be time for me to Irish goodbye from wherever I am. See, I *love* my alone time where I can rest, recharge, read a book, play some ukulele, knit some stuff, do a solo workout, or snuggle with my tiny baby Archygirl. Y’all, I run marathons. Do you know how much alone time I get to myself on a 20 mile training run? Let me just pop on this here audiobook I’m enjoying and run for hours on end (or row on my rowing machine). It’s like my own little private Heaven.
Oh, and speaking of working out alone for long periods of time, sometimes people misunderstand that I am also a human being and not a robot (at least I don’t think I’m a robot.. but, truly, would I even know?), which means that I have human feelings! Yay! A friend asked me recently if I ever just don’t feel like working out, and I was like “Of course! Sometimes the last thing I want to do is workout! [but] I feel better physically and mentally when I do work out, so I try to reframe it by thinking of it as self-care.” So there ya go… in case you’re looking for a way to reframe working out. (Is this a lesson?! Also, do robots even need to exercise?)
Hm, oh-uh Mr. Misunderstood (is a pretty good Eric Church song). I don’t know if there’s much else; I’m sure there is because how could I possibly know everything people might misunderstand about me? I feel like I’m not that difficult to understand and am pretty straightforward, but hey, who knows, ya know? Perhaps I have all these secret, oniony, ogre layers that’ll get peeled back over time once I meet a donkey sidekick who loves to sing.
I guess the big lesson of today is that people are probably going to misunderstand you no matter what. I feel like - at least at this point in my life - it isn’t really my job to constantly worry about or correct other people’s perceptions of me. I know who I am, and I have a close, tight knit circle of people who know me really well. That’s really all I *need* - anything else is bonus icing on the cake!
To parties with great food and cozy solitude,
Johny
ICYMI: The Big 150
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