Lady J

When it comes to the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, I'm an ENFJ. I'm an extrovert (although I'm not 100% on that one). I'm intuitive, not sensitive. I'm a feeler, not a thinker. And I'm a J. I'm a judger, not a perceiver.

Extrovert/introvert is self explanatory. The intuitive/sensitive marker has to do with how folks gather information and the feeling/thinking has to do with decision making. None of this is important. Seriously. I can get along fine with IST's as well as all sorts of combinations of E/I, S/N, T/F's. It's the J/P problem that gets me every time.

Perceivers like things to be up in the air. They like their options open. They are crazy people. My husband is a P and I can never understand this. I would, frankly, prefer bad news that is definite to good news that is a maybe. I cannot handle things that are not decided. I can be part of the decision making process, but I have to know it will come to an end. Soon. I'm fine with things up in the air if I know there's a deadline (for instance, what classroom my child will be in next year. If I know the decision will be made on June 12, I can stop being anxious until June 11).

I'm the sort of person who likes knowing a store back and forth so she can move into it, find the salad dressing she buys, the milk, the sour cream, and never even see the other choices.

I would thrive in that Scandinavian country where you have to line up on a Friday evening to buy alcohol from the government supplier.

One of the hardest things about living in a big city with lots of school choices was that I had lots of choices (now, one bad choice would still make me nuts, but I would be in the boat with everyone else and maybe together we could fight the Man).

I read the synopsis for Downton Abbey before I decided I could watch it. I know what's coming and I like it anyway. Same is true for novels. I have to read the end to see how it ends. I still enjoy the journey of how it gets there.

I wear black t-shirts and blue jeans. Every day. I don't like making decisions, I don't like having too many choices. I understand this is unamerican and possibly mentally ill, but this is the way I am.

Right now I don't know what I'm doing next year. I know what I want to do. I know what my second choice is. And third. I can't really talk about any of it. But it is the overriding source of thought and anxiety in my life now...for like the last month. Nothing is known for sure and there's nothing I can do about it.

It's spring break and there is absolutely nothing I can do for a week. My biggest worry is that I will say yes to one and then another will present itself. But I couldn't put all my eggs in one basket. Maybe I should have. Then it would be a binary decision, not my decision, and eventually I would know yes or no. Now there is the potential for several yes and no answers and then decisions will have to be made. Swiftly, which is good. Without knowing the end of the story, which is bad. There is no wikipedia article with spoilers. I have to have faith here.

I'm going to leave the computer here and go clean out my sock drawer. Then something will be accomplished. Something will be decided. Maybe that will help.