Rules

I am an E. I am an E-S. I am and E-S-T-J according to Myers Briggs. For those of you who don't speak MB, here is the break down. I am an Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging woman. That title can me misinterpreted very easily if you don't know what you are talking about. So, here is my nutshell version, which is pretty good...

Extroversion: First and foremost has to do with how you PROCESS. Secondly, it has to do with how you relate socially. If you like to talk things through, out loud, with another living breathing human being - you might be an extrovert. If you find that you absolutely HAVE to blog something to get it off your chest - you might be an extrovert. If it feels better to just say something out loud and then you realize it was total garbage but you do not feel bound to it - you might be an extrovert. If all the above are true...you are probably an extrovert.

I find myself, in times of confusion or frustration just needing to speak my thoughts out loud. I can usually move past it once that is done. However, I have to be careful who I process with because I may say something completely ridiculous and move past it, yet my processing partner is back in left field while I have moved on into the locker room!

Sensing. This means that I love details. I love to focus on logistics and how to get all the little things done in a big project. It means I love to have the big picture given to me. Then, I like to help pull it together. I walk past the same spot in my kitchen about a hundred times each day and I look at the same ding in my floor. Details!

Thinking. It means I normally choose what my head is saying over what my heart or feelings say. It means, that as a woman I am often categorized as a bitch. I am not warm and fuzzy in general (while I am nurturing). It means that I tend to look at the facts...the black and white and that is what I see. I am not a super strong "T" but I am one.

Judging. I love structure. I love that my junk drawer has an organizer with stickers in each compartment that have pictures on them of what belongs there. If Mark would let me, I would have everything in a box with a label on it. It means that when I come to the home organization section of a store, my pulse begins to race. It means I can set up the most complicated system to accomplish the littlest of tasks any day of the week. I like to color code, alphabetize, sort and organize. It is a sickness for sure!

Now, by this time...you might be saying, "Rebecca, why did you title this post 'Rules'?" Well, it is the J in me that also loves to follow the rules. I have taken career tests that say I should be in law or military. I can't think of two careers that have more rules than those. Now, I am a pretty strong J but I don't just blindly follow rules. I like to see, whether obvious or not, how the rule applies to me and those around me. I love to follow rules. The only time I don't is when someone cannot explain to me the value of it. Hence...early termination from my cell carrier without penalty. Rules for the sake of rules annoy me. I rarely find that there is not a good reason for a rule.

North Carolina has rules that are different from Washington. Washington State...gotta make sure I am clear because apparently, people haven't ever heard of calling our nations capital by its actual name. Washington DC, DC, The District of Columbia...ok...I digress.

In most parts, if not all, U-turns are illegal in the grand old evergreen state (yep...feeling sentimental). In NC...people do it all the time. Almost every intersection allows them and they are used! I have had to rearrange my brain. For so many years, I never even considered the idea of pulling a U-turn. There have been times when I actually thought to myself. Man...would it be nice to just flip around here and I would be there! Instead I go to the next logical, controlled intersection and turn around.

Well, I have HAD to get over it. U-turns are needed all the time as many streets are 4 lanes with a barrier between directions. I have to say that I kind of feel naughty every time I do it. I feel like everyone is watching me...wondering what the heck the Washingtonian is doing??? I feel like I am going to get pulled over, honked at or worse...crashed into. Yet, every time I do it, I come through unharmed and going in the proper direction.

It made me wonder about the J in me. I felt rebellious and I kinda like it once I get past the scary part! I know...I have serious issues. Well, the E in me needed to get it out!