I’m a patterns girl. I like the expected. I like math because 1+1 will always equal 2. Routines are my friend. The process from A to B is always the same. I’ve often said that if I managed to get involved in some sort of crazy assassination plot it would take my assassin precisely one day to figure out my routine because it. never. changes. My weekdays are predictable right down to what parking spot I’ll be in at my usual gas station every morning. I’d be such an easy target.
Thankfully I haven’t found myself in that situation.
My response to change really bothers me. My response to the unplanned or uncontrolled makes me worry about myself. I’m not OCD a la Jack Nicholas in As Good As It Gets, but I am strongly defined by my routines either real or projected. Things I don’t know about make me nervous, major changes in plans I’ve set make me annoyed or angry. This condition has been part of me my whole life in various forms but in the last year or so it’s become so pronounced that I’ve actually felt worried about it.
I don’t want to go through life bored, with no adventure. I find that when I do get a thrilled feeling about an experience in spite of what it took out of me to get there I’m happy. This rut that I’m parked in is destroying me. I think it’s time to kick this bitch into to four wheel drive and move on. I need to capture that ability to let things flow…just go with stuff. Stop trying to plan, re-plan and then check that plan for errors while over analyzing every last detail. If you were to step inside my head it’s like a giant flow chart/risk management system and three ring circus all crammed inside running 24/7.
This trait makes me super valuable at work, my bosses love that I can crank out production, create working systems from scratch, see the big picture and predict pitfalls and failures in order to avoid them completely. I’m golden with this personality in the corporate world. I can get them there on time every time. But in my personal life it’s taking me on a long walk off a short pier.
I used to be a lot more creative in my personal life, that has even taken a nose dive. If it doesn’t fit into what should be going on in my head I axe it. I’ve posted about my issues with unfinished projects and I honestly have to say that I think I’ve actually created a self-inflicted pattern of not getting things finished. It’s become comfortable for me to not finish something I’ve started. And that is no good at all.
It’s time to bring the balance back. It’s time to start living again. It’s time to get out of my head and into reality. I don’t know where this is going to go, how it’s going to turn out or what it’s going to entail. The cliché is that a journey starts with the first step – so today I’m tying my shoes and getting ready to start walking.
