Sooner or Later…

So why did the name ‘Sooner or Later’?  It isn’t easy choosing a name, its almost as bad a trying to name a baby.  Everyone who hears or reads it will form an opinion about the name carrier before they ever meet.  Didn’t want to sound silly or stuffy or lots of other things.  For a long time the name of choice was ‘Mostly’.  It kinda fit and my oldest agreed–for every box that I’ve ever been put in fit…mostly.  I would tell people ‘if you want to know about me look up white and uptight in the dictionary and the definition would say “see Stephanie “  But that wasn’t quite true.  Yes there are lots of things that I’m old fashioned about, but many of the things that wig other people out don’t bother me one bit.  Mostly.  But the name just wasn’t there. 

Sometime ago I took a personality test here:  http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

and found out I’m classified as an INTJ.  http://www.personalitypage.com/INTJ.html   or the scientist.  Duh!! no big surprise to my family!!  What was a surprise is how accurately this described me.  INTJ also went a long way toward explaining *why* I can get on other people’s nerves.  The reason can be seen in these two points (bold italics are mine):

INTJs focus their energy on observing the world, and generating ideas and possibilities. Their mind constantly gathers information and makes associations about it. They are tremendously insightful and usually are very quick to understand new ideas. However, their primary interest is not understanding a concept, but rather applying that concept in a useful way. Unlike the INTP, they do not follow an idea as far as they possibly can, seeking only to understand it fully. INTJs are driven to come to conclusions about ideas. Their need for closure and organization usually requires that they take some action.

INTJs are natural leaders, although they usually choose to remain in the background until they see a real need to take over the lead. When they are in leadership roles, they are quite effective, because they are able to objectively see the reality of a situation, and are adaptable enough to change things which aren’t working well. They are the supreme strategists - always scanning available ideas and concepts and weighing them against their current strategy, to plan for every conceivable contingency.

So do you see why there might be problems?  This personality type want to understand enough to know how to use this information in a useful way.  It sees the reality not the ‘what I want to see’. Lastly, this type wants to plan for “every conceivable contingency” is a fancy way of saying we look down the road, see future potential problems, and want to apply the fix TODAY. 

This last is what causes a lot of trouble–for me at least.  My brain just naturally sees a potential problem and just as naturally wants to arrange things so that there is no possibility of that problem occurring.  Most people do not work this way and a common comment I hear is ”I always go looking for trouble” –*if* it becomes a problem *then* we can fix it.  Sounds like New Orleans doesn’t it?  Some even call me a pessimist.  I called myself a realist before I took the test and that’s still what fits.

Sooner or Later…you will need a spare tire or a band-aid or candles or…whatever.  You know where you live so plan now for bad weather–especially if you have children.

Now this might cause problems in some families, but not so much around here.  DH is has lived with me long enough that nothing much rattles him.  (Love goes a looong way.)  The older kids took that same test and everyone had a personality that started with an I.  We fit together nicely.  Fyah is the engineer or thinker and can plan, but perhaps isn’t so good at implementing.  Nekos is good at implementing and will get the job done but isn’t too much into theory.  I do practicality & problems.  Short-Stuff will market though not in an extroverted way.  My  littlest sister will defend us all the the death.  No wonder that we feel so comfortable with each other.

All those ‘I’s also explains our basic feelings about large group settings.  Fyah (#1 son) stated it best:  ”People are fine, then its time to go home.”   

So there you have it–why its ’Sooner or Later’.  It’s reality–sooner or later both good & bad will happen and either way its a good thing to have a box of tissues handy.