Most mornings I have things timed to the minute.  Depending on what I have to do that morning, meetings, choir or plan, I decide how late I can sleep in, and what I need to do for breakfast,usually on the way to school.  Everything is timed from having clothes out to how long it takes to shower and do other routines.  So, when I dash down to the garage, I’m visualizing the route to get to where I want to stop for breakfast based on what time it is and how much time I have.  Today was McDonalds for my usual sausage biscuit and smoothie.  But as I drove up into the driveway into the mall where McDonalds is located,  from all directions I saw others just like me, taking the shortest way they knew to zip around corners and pull Hollywood stops to get into the drive-thru.  I laughed out loud, knowing full well that I was one of these crazy Type A personalities.

Then the analogy came into full view as I rounded the corner of the restaurant in the drive-thru lane and looked at the people sitting inside.  A parent and child sitting at a booth, two or three friends sitting at a table, having made the time to get there early to sit down and share a meal.  Slowly taking their time, smiling, enjoying each other, the typical Type B personality, watching the crazy Type A’s speeding around the drive-thru, one to a car, thinking only about the next thing on their agenda.

I’m not trying to diss my type B personality friends.  Shoot, I wish I were a type B personality.  My idea of going to a restaurant is to eat. Period.  I find myself throwing down my meal and waiting on my husband who breathes and takes his time to eat.  So I sit and watch him, wanting to ask him when he’s ready to go.  But when he’s finished every last bite (he doesn’t believe in boxes), he’ll then walk over to the fountain and get another drink, or sip on his water and then ask, are you ready to go?  Chances are I’ve been ready for some time but I didn’t want to rush him.  Again, I appreciate Type B, I just can’t be a “B”.

My Type A-ism can be interpreted as rudeness, I’m sure.  After all, I always have an agenda, so if you walk up to me kindly and ask how I’m doing and want to start a friendly conversation, I will certainly stop and talk, but in my brain I’m rearranging my agenda, the order of things I have to get done right now if I run out of time and the fastest way to do it.

So here’s the odd part, when it comes to grocery shopping or choosing check out lanes to get into, my husband and I go in completely the opposite direction in terms of personalities.  I want to take my time going aisle by aisle to make sure I don’t miss anything and he wants to make the strategic strike.  I don’t care what check out lane we go to but he has to analyze everything to figure out which line will go the fastest.  Maybe that’s a gender thing and not necessarily a personality type, I don’t know.

My question is, are we stuck with our personality types?  Is there a way to slow myself down, to not sweat the small stuff, to stop and smell the roses?  After all, it’s healthier, less stressful and allows us to focus on more important things, right?  As a Type A, how do I get past a perceived boredom if I’m not constantly moving and doing and just BE STILL.

Even as I sit here typing this blog, I’m thinking about what I’m going to do when I finish this, listening to the washer getting ready to stop so I can throw in some more clothes and then work on cleaning the house and maybe sit down and do some reading I need to do.  I’m thinking ahead to asking a group of friends if they want to get together over spring break, working on some school stuff and scheduling when I need to teach the next opera to 5th grade.  And bright and early Monday morning, this Type A will get up just a touch later because I have planning first thing, zip through a drive-thru on the way to school and look longingly at the Type B personalities through the window.